The Girl from Alsace Part 16

"I gave it to the porter at the hotel," Stewart explained. "Perhaps it wasn't accepted, and he just kept the money."

"That may be. But your postcard got through, as you no doubt know. It evidently caught the night mail and was delivered to Madame this morning."

"Really," stammered Stewart, wondering desperately if this was another trap, "I didn't know--I didn't think to ask----"

"Luckily Madame brought it with her in her hand-bag," explained the other. "It offers a convincing confirmation of your story--the more convincing perhaps since you seem surprised that she preserved it. Ah, here she is now," and he arose as the door opened and the girl came in.

"Will you not sit down, madame?" he went on, courteously. "I pray that both of you will accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience I have caused you. Believe me, it was one of war's necessities."

The girl glanced at the speaker curiously, his tone was so warm, so full of friends.h.i.+p; then she glanced at Stewart----

And Stewart, catching that glance, was suddenly conscious that his mouth was open and his eyes staring and his whole att.i.tude that of a man struck dumb by astonishment. Hastily he bent over to re-tie a shoestring. But really, he told himself, he could not be blamed for being disconcerted--anybody would be disconcerted to be told suddenly that his most desperate lie was true! But how could it be true? How could there be any such postcard as the German had described? Was it just another trap?

"We understand, of course, that you were merely doing your duty," the girl's voice was saying; "what seemed unfair was that we should be the victims. Do I understand that--that you no longer suspect us?"

"Absolutely not; and I apologize for my suspicions."

"Then we are at liberty to proceed?"

"You cannot in any event proceed to-night. I will pa.s.s you in the morning. And I hope you will not think that any discourtesy was intended to you as Americans. Germany is most anxious to retain the good-will of America. It will mean much to us in this struggle."

"Most Americans are rather sentimental over Alsace-Lorraine," said Stewart, who had recovered his composure, and he fished for a cigar and offered one to the officer, who accepted it with a bow of thanks.

"That is because they do not understand," said the other, quickly.

"Alsace and Lorraine belong of right to Germany. Of that there can be no question."

"But haven't you been rather harsh with them?"

"We have not been harsh enough. Had we done our duty, we would have stamped out without mercy the treason which is still rampant in many parts of those provinces. Instead, we have hesitated, we have temporized--and now, too late, we realize our mistake. The spy for whom we are searching at this moment comes from Stra.s.sburg."

Stewart started at the words; but the girl threw back her head and burst into delighted laughter.

"So you took us for spies!" she cried. "What a tale to tell, Tommy, when we get home!"

"There is but one spy, madame," said the officer; "a woman young and beautiful like yourself--accomplished, distinguished, a great linguist, a fine musician, of good family, and moving in the highest society in Alsace. She was on terms of intimacy with many of our officers; they did not hesitate to talk freely to her. Some of them, fascinated by her wit and beauty and wis.h.i.+ng to prove their own importance, told her things which they had no right to tell. More than that, at the last moment she succeeded in getting possession for a time of certain confidential doc.u.ments. But she had gone too far--she was suspected--she fled--and she has not yet been captured. But she cannot escape--we cannot permit her to escape. We know that she is still somewhere in Germany, and we have made it impossible for her to pa.s.s the frontier. A person who knows her is to be stationed at every post, and no woman will be permitted to pa.s.s until he has seen her. The man to be stationed here will arrive from Stra.s.sburg in an hour. As a final precaution, madame," he added, smiling, "and because my orders are most precise and stringent, I shall ask you and your husband to remain here at Herbesthal until morning. As I have said, you could not, in any event, go on to-night, for the frontier is closed. In the morning, I will ask my man from Stra.s.sburg to look at you, and will then provide you with a safe-conduct, and see that every possible facility is given you to get safely across the frontier."

"Thank you," she said; "you are most kind. That is why you are keeping all those people shut up in the station?"

"Yes, madame. They cannot pa.s.s until my man has seen them."

"But you are not searching them?"

"No; with most of them, the detention is a mere matter of obeying orders--one can tell their nationality at a glance. But to look at you, madame, I should never have supposed you to be an American--I should have supposed you to be French."

"My grandmother was French," explained the girl, composedly, "and I am said to resemble her very closely. I must also warn you that my sympathies are French."

The officer shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"That is a great misfortune. Perhaps when you see how our army fights, we may claim some of your sympathy--or, at least, your admiration."

"It will fight well, then?"

"It will fight so well--it will prove so irresistible--that our General Staff has been able to prepare in advance the schedule for the entire campaign. This is the first of August. On the fifth we shall capture Lille, on the ninth we shall cross the Marne, and on the eleventh we shall enter Paris. On the evening of the twelfth, the Emperor will dine the General Staff at the Ritz."

Stewart stared in astonishment, not knowing whether to laugh or to be impressed. But there was no shadow of a smile on the bearded face of the speaker.

"You are not in earnest!" Stewart protested.

"Thoroughly in earnest. We know where we shall be at every hour of every day. There are at present living in France many Germans who are reservists in our army. Not one of these has been required to return to Germany. On the contrary, each of them has been instructed to report at a point near his place of residence at a certain hour of a certain day, where he will find his regiment awaiting him. For example, all German reservists living at Lille, or in the neighborhood, will report at noon of Wednesday next in the Place de la Republique in front of the prefecture, where the German administration will have been installed during the morning."

Stewart opened his lips to say something, but no words came. He felt intimidated and overborne.

But it was not at Stewart the officer was looking so triumphantly, it was at the girl. Perhaps he also, yielding to a subtle fascination, was telling things he had no right to tell in order to prove his importance!

The girl returned his gaze with a look of astonishment and admiration.

"How wonderful!" she breathed. "And it is really true?"

"True in every detail, madame."

"But this Lille of which you have spoken--is it a fortress?"

"A great fortress, madame."

"Will it not resist?"

"Not for long--perhaps not at all. If it does resist, it will fall like a house of cards. The whole world will be astonished, madame, when it learns the details of that action. We have a great surprise in store for our enemies!"

Stewart, glancing at his companion, noted with alarm the flash of excitement in her eyes. Would she push her questioning too far--would she be indiscreet; but the next instant he was rea.s.sured.

"It is most fascinating,--this puzzle!" she laughed. "I shall watch the papers for the fall of Lille. But I am very ignorant--I do not even know where Lille is."

"It is in the northwest corner of France, madame, just south of the Belgian frontier."

The girl looked at him perplexedly.

"But how can you reach it," she asked, slowly, "without crossing Belgium?"

"We cannot reach it without crossing Belgium."

From the expression of her face, she might have been a child shyly interrogating an indulgent senior.

"I know I am stupid," she faltered, "but it seems to me I have read somewhere--perhaps in Baedeker--that all the Powers had agreed that Belgium should always be a neutral country."

"So they did--Germany as well as the others. But such agreements are mere sc.r.a.ps of paper. The first blast of war blows them away. France has built along her eastern border a great chain of forts which are almost impregnable. Therefore it is necessary for us to strike her from the north through Belgium. Regretfully, but none the less firmly, we have warned Belgium to stand aside."

"Will she stand aside?"

The officer shrugged his shoulders.