Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-15
CHAPTER VI.-Continued.

~ that office there several great
safes and when we had grown quite
Aarry and gay together made Raonl
tell me which was the most impor-
rsnt of all-whrre the really impor-
ttur and valuable things were kept He
Iavsr ed and pointed out the most interest
TO-. nne-the one he said which held all
t.. deepest secrets of French foreign
a-arumary | was sure then that the thing
lad To- get fur the British foreign secre
g.. must be there, though ii was such a
,-u thing that it couldn't have been any
v.rr.. for long. There are three keys to
rttt safe said Raoul. One is kept by the
rr,,~;d mt. one is always with the foreign
s,.r"tary. this Is the third and he showed
u- q strange little key. different to any
tad seen before oh. do let me have
peep at these wonderful papers. l pleaded
with him. Before coming / had planned
what to do. Round my throat I wore
string of initial on pearls which I'd put on
Tor a special purpose. But ,-.ey were
pretty and so well made that only an ex-
per, would know they weren't real Raoui
I-r.t an expert: so at the moment he fitted
Tie. key into the lock of the safe to open
i... door | gave a sly little pull and broke
r.- thread. making the pearls roll every
where about thu floor. He was quite dis
'.s-sed. forgot all about the key In the
I..E. and flew 90 pick up the pearls as II
..,,.f one worth at least a thousand
frames.
Willie he was busy finding the lost
beads | whipped out the key. took an i'm
preston If II on piece Of wax / had
ready concealed In my handkerchief and
slipped II back into the lock while lie WIS
still On his hands and knees on the floor,
Then he opened the "a c-duor for mo-
mcut Just to give me the peep l had
begged for but not long enough for me TO
touch anything even If ia dared to try
with him standing there. Enough. though,
To- show me that the documents were neatly
arranged In labeled piseon-Eoles. and to
seq their general character color and
shape. That same day a key to hit the
lock WAS being made. and when 1t was
ready made an excuse To call again on
Rdoul a the offica. Not Il very elaborate
excuse was needed. The poor fellow, trust
ing m" as he trusts himself. or more, was
only too glad 10 have me come to him, even
100 that sacred place Now the thing was
70 get him away. But I'd made up my
mind what to do. In another office. up
stairs. was a friend OF RaoUl's-the one
who introduced us to each other. and d
mad" up a message for him. which /
legged Raoul to take and bring his friend
a. speak to me. He went, and believed |
might count on five minutes TO myself No
TnuFr-but those five minutes would have
t. he enough for success or failure. The
instant the door shut behind Raoul | was
a. the safe. The key fitted. | snatChed
"Gt folded document. and opened 1t to
make quite. quite certain IL was the right
on. for a mistake would be ineXcusable
and spoil everything. 1t was what l
wtntvd-the treaty newly made between
Japan. Russia and France-the treaty
which your foreign secretary thought he
tad reason tn believe was secret one. ar
ranged between the three countries with
uu, the knowledge of England and to the
uIriudlce of her interests. The one glance
/ Lad gave me the impression that the
document was nothing of the kind. but
quite innocent affecting trade only: yet
that wasn't my business. l had to send it
Ia the foreign secretary, who wanted to
know It's precise nature and whether Eng
I.,rd was being deceived In place of the
treaty | slipped into its pigeOn-hoie docu-
m"ut ia brought with me-just like the
real thing. No one opening the safe on
other business would suspect the change
That had been made. My hope was 70 get
the treaty back before it should he missed,
NuU see. / was betrayiug RaOu! to save
him. Do you understands"
Il understand. You must have persuaded
yourself that you were justified. But, good
heavens. Maxine. l couldn't help breaking
out. ii was an awful thing to do
II know-l know But, had to have the
muaey-for Raoul. And there was no other
way To get it. You remember I'd refused,
I'LL the diamonds were lost and would have
refused even If Raoul had nothing TO do
with the French foreign office. But let me
GO on telling you what happened. l had
time enough. | had even a minute or two
man Id sent RaouI to find out. l
lpukcd at my watch, pretended TO be sur
prs ID. and said | must go at once. /
Coudu't bear to waste second in hurry
lag the treaty off, that 1t might the
more quickly be on its way back. | hadn't
come to visit Raoul In my own carriage.
hut IN cab. which was waiting. AS RaOul
WAS taking me To il Count Godensky got
uvj "f a mOtor-hrougham and saw me. If
only il had been anywhere except In front
"f The foreign Office. l told myself there
was no reason why he should guess that
uy'hing wrong. but | was in such
state of nerves that as he raised his hat
and his eyebrows l fancied that he mag
mod all sorts Of things. and | felt myself
grow red and pale. What a fool | was
and how weak. But | couldn't help it. l
didn't walt To- 30 home. l wrote few
lines In the cab and sent on the packet,
reg stored in time. / hoped, to catch the
I'o~t-hut after all. 1t didn't. Coming out
from the post Office there was Godensky
again. in his mOtor-brougham. That could
have been no coincidence. horrid Ger