E. Phillips Oppenheim - 21 Greatest Spy Thrillers in One Premium Edition (Mystery & Espionage Series)

“To England to-day?” she gasped.

He nodded.

“You only want your dressing-bag. I have loads of sisters and cousins who will cart you round to do trousseau-buying but I warn you, you won’t have much time for that sort of thing. It’s a special licence for us to-morrow. A week in England—half of it at the Foreign Office, I’m afraid—and all being well, Mr. Blute, you can tell Mr. Benjamin that we’ll be at Meurice’s in ten days. Then we shall have a week’s more honeymoon and I must settle down into whatever war job they give me. Is that all right, Patricia?”

She clung to his arm.

“It sounds like heaven, dear. But there’s just one thing—shall I have time to mend my frock or must I mend it in the plane?”

“I should like to start,” he told her, “in half-an-hour.”

“Then I’ll mend my frock in the plane,” she decided.

“And,” he went on, “as I should like to take a tolerably clean girl into England may I remind you, young lady, that I carried your dressing-case all the way up the hill and Madame Renouf has put it in one of the rooms that hasn’t been used. It has a bathroom and she will provide a maid to help you. You have exactly half-an-hour from now.”

She was gone like a flash.

“Quickest thing on her feet I’ve ever seen,” Blute remarked, as he watched her admiringly. “I’m not much for the other sex myself, Mr. Mildenhall, but I think you’re to be envied.”

The two men shook hands warmly.

“And so is she,” Blute declared. “I can’t say I’ve known many Englishmen, Mr. Mildenhall, but you’re—well, you’re all right. I shall be always glad I’ve known you.”

“And I’ve just one thing to say to you in reply, Blute,” Charles said with his hand on the other’s shoulder. “You never said a word when I nearly let you down, you never even looked what you must have felt. That was the action and the reserve of a great gentleman.”

“Ah, well,” Blute said, “you knew.” Half-an-hour later he watched their plane pass westwards—a glittering speck in the sky.

THE END

Table of Contents Table of Contents The Spy Paramount THE SPY PARAMOUNT Table of Contents The Great Impersonation THE GREAT IMPERSONATION Table of Contents Last Train Out LAST TRAIN OUT Table of Contents The Double Traitor THE DOUBLE TRAITOR Table of Contents Havoc HAVOC Table of Contents The Spymaster Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat The Vanished Messenger The Dumb Gods Speak The Pawns Count The Box With Broken Seals The Great Prince Shan The Devil's Paw The Bird of Paradise The Zeppelin's Passenger The Kingdom of the Blind The Illustrious Prince The Lost Ambassador The Betrayal Mysterious Mr. Sabin The Colossus of Arcadia

Table of Contents Table of Contents The Spy Paramount THE SPY PARAMOUNT Table of Contents The Great Impersonation THE GREAT IMPERSONATION Table of Contents Last Train Out LAST TRAIN OUT Table of Contents The Double Traitor THE DOUBLE TRAITOR Table of Contents Havoc HAVOC Table of Contents The Spymaster Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat The Vanished Messenger The Dumb Gods Speak The Pawns Count The Box With Broken Seals The Great Prince Shan The Devil's Paw The Bird of Paradise The Zeppelin's Passenger The Kingdom of the Blind The Illustrious Prince The Lost Ambassador The Betrayal Mysterious Mr. Sabin The Colossus of Arcadia

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXV

Chapter XXVI

Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXIX

Chapter XXX

Chapter XXXI

Chapter XXXII

Chapter XXXIII

Chapter XXXIV

Chapter XXXV

Chapter XXXVI

Chapter XXXVII

Chapter XXXVIII

Chapter XXXIX

Chapter XL

Table of Contents

The woman leaned across the table towards her companion.

“My friend,” she said, “when we first met—I am ashamed, considering that I dine alone with you to-night, to reflect how short a time ago—you spoke of your removal here from Paris very much as though it were a veritable exile. I told you then that there might be surprises in store for you. This restaurant, for instance! We both know our Paris, yet do we lack anything here which you find at the Ritz or Giro’s?”

The young man looked around him appraisingly. The two were dining at one of the newest and most fashionable restaurants in Berlin. The room itself, although a little sombre by reason of its oak panelling, was relieved from absolute gloom by the lightness and elegance of its furniture and appointments, the profusion of flowers, and the soft grey carpet, so thickly piled that every sound was deadened. The delicate strains of music came from an invisible orchestra concealed behind a canopy of palms. The head-waiters had the correct clerical air, half complacent, half dignified. Among the other diners were many beautiful women in marvellous toilettes. A variety of uniforms, worn by the officers at different tables, gave colour and distinction to a tout ensemble with which even Norgate could find no fault.

“Germany has changed very much since I was here as a boy,” he confessed. “One has heard of the growing wealth of Berlin, but I must say that I scarcely expected—”

He hesitated. His companion laughed softly at his embarrassment.

“Do not forget,” she interrupted, “that I am Austrian—Austrian, that is to say, with much English in my blood. What you say about Germans does not greatly concern me.”

“Of course,” Norgate resumed, as he watched the champagne poured into his glass, “one is too much inclined to form one’s conclusions about a nation from the types one meets travelling, and you know what the Germans have done for Monte Carlo and the Riviera—even, to a lesser extent, for Paris and Rome. Wherever they have been, for the last few years, they seem to have left the trail of the nouveaux riches . It is not only their clothes but their manners and bearing which affront.”

The woman leaned her head for a moment against the tips of her slim and beautifully cared for fingers. She looked steadfastly across the table at her vis-à-vis.

“Now that you are here,” she said softly, “you must forget those things. You are a diplomatist, and it is for you, is it not, outwardly, at any rate, to see only the good of the country in which your work lies.”

Norgate flushed very slightly. His companion’s words had savoured almost of a reproof.

“You are quite right,” he admitted. “I have been here for a month, though, and you are the first person to whom I have spoken like this. And you yourself,” he pointed out, “encouraged me, did you not, when you insisted upon your Austro-English nationality?”

“You must not take me too seriously,” she begged, smiling. “I spoke foolishly, perhaps, but only for your good. You see, Mr. Francis Norgate, I am just a little interested in you and your career.”

“And I, dear Baroness,” he replied, smiling across at her, “am more than a little interested in—you.”

She unfurled her fan.

“I believe,” she sighed, “that you are going to flirt with me.”