The Man Without a Memory Part 10

"Do you mean that you've risked coming here merely because of--of what mother told you about me."

"Not very likely, is it?"

"It wouldn't have been at one time, but---- You mustn't say anything to Rosa. You mustn't, really. You won't, Jack, will you?" and she laid her hand on my arm appealingly.

"I must, Nessa."

"No, no. I won't be the cause----"

And then, just as she was clinging to my arm and urging me, she broke away with a sudden cry of consternation.

I turned to find Rosa standing in the doorway, staring at us wide-eyed in amazement.

CHAPTER VI

ROSA IS TOLD

Whether I should have yielded to Nessa and allowed myself to be persuaded not to tell Rosa the truth, I can't say--she always had great influence with me---but after we had been surprised in this fas.h.i.+on it was no longer possible to hesitate. Nessa would have been compromised and I suspected.

I acted promptly, therefore. I crossed the room, and shut the door carefully, both girls watching me with expectant curiosity.

"Please come into the conservatory, Miss von Rebling," I said quietly in English, which she spoke quite fluently. "I have something of the utmost importance to say to you. And we had better speak in English and not too loudly, please."

She stared at me, desperately perplexed by my words and manner; but after a moment's hesitation went into the conservatory, to where Nessa stood in trembling agitation by the plants, and linked her arm in hers and kissed her.

"I am going to put my life in your hands. I am not Johann La.s.sen. I am an Englishman and my name is Jack Lancaster. Nessa and I are old friends, and we were discussing the question of telling you when you came in," I said in a slow deliberate tone.

She was literally astounded and could not at once grasp all that my words meant. She turned to Nessa as if appealing for confirmation.

"Nessa!" she exclaimed, much too loudly to be safe.

"Let me tell you why it is necessary not to speak loudly. You have a spy in the house: the servant I have heard you call Gretchen;" and I described what I had witnessed. "It will no doubt explain why Nessa's letters have never reached England and other things probably."

Rosa's face being incapable of expressing more astonishment than she had already shown, she just tossed up her hands feebly, suggesting that the whole affair was beyond her understanding. But she was a practical, level-headed girl, and soon recovered her self-control.

"Do you mean that you have recovered your memory?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I have never lost it."

She frowned ominously at this and her expression signalled suspicion.

"Then why are you in Berlin?"

Clearly she regarded me as an English spy, and there was nothing for it but to tell her the full reason for my presence, although I had not wished to let Nessa know it. "I will tell you everything, but you'd better sit down as it will take some time."

She sat down and drew Nessa to her side, taking her hand and holding it all the time I spoke. "I am an officer in the English army, and was home on leave when I heard for the first time about Nessa;" and I told them all that Mrs. Caldicott said, and described the two peculiar communications which had reached England. Then the whole story: My first plan; Jimmy's intervention; how I had taken his place at the last moment; the blowing up of the _Burgen_; my being mistaken for La.s.sen; my feigned loss of memory; how I had been unable to get away from Hoffnung, and how his suspicions had forced me to continue the impersonation.

Nessa was terribly distressed to hear of her mother's anxiety and grief; Rosa wept in sympathy, and they both listened to the whole story with rapt attention.

"You will see now," I concluded, "what I meant by saying I am putting my life in your hands. If I am known to be an English officer, there will be only one construction put upon my presence here--that I am a spy, and I shall of course be shot. We should do the same on our side if one of your officers was found in England in similar circ.u.mstances.

I give you my word, however, that my sole object is to get Nessa away home."

Rosa looked very grave and rather frightened. "You know the consequences to me if I attempt to s.h.i.+eld you?"

I nodded. "I can understand they would be very serious, if it was discovered."

Then we all sat silent for a long time, several minutes, and Nessa was trembling like an aspen leaf. Rosa broke the silence at last.

"Where is my cousin?"

"He went down in the _Burgen_. There is no doubt that I am the only survivor. He was below at the time of the explosion, and not even any of the men on deck were saved."

"But if he should not have been drowned and should come here?"

"Your mother and Hans, every one believes I am your cousin, and not so much as a breath of suspicion that you know the truth could ever be roused, unless of course you admitted it."

This had all the effect I had hoped, and she nodded understandingly.

"And what do you wish me to do?" she asked after another pause.

"To allow matters to remain as they are until we can get Nessa away; but it is entirely for you to decide."

She shook her head. "I--I can't decide now. I must have time to think.

I was never so perplexed or astounded in my life."

"Rosa dear!" appealed Nessa.

"It is not for us to settle, Nessa," I put in; and then another long silence followed.

"If I wait till to-morrow, say, will you use the time to escape, Mr.

Lancaster?" asked Rosa then.

"That is impossible, Miss von Rebling," I replied uncompromisingly. "I have come to get Nessa away, and that cannot be done in the time."

That drew a smile: the first since she had arrived. She guessed how the land lay with me, and glanced round at Nessa, who coloured slightly. I believe that that little blush had more effect than anything else. She had the usual streak of German romance in her disposition, and the situation appealed to it strongly.

"I wish I dared," she murmured; and I began to hope.

I gave the new idea a minute to germinate, and then began to nurture it by suggesting how her risk would be minimized. "Let me tell you just what is in my mind. I will not remain in the house, and the first thing to-morrow will go to rooms or an hotel."

"But mother?" she protested nervously.

"I shall tell her of my discovery about Gretchen, and that in view of my connection with the Secret Service, it is essential for me to be absolutely secure against anything of the sort." She nodded approval.

"I shall then be too busy officially to come here much, and this will relieve you from all the unpleasantness of open deception with her and others." Again she nodded.

"The next thing will be to obtain the necessary papers for Nessa and me to leave. Have you any friends in Holland?"