Somewhere she could hear the sound of mens voices. One she recognised as her fathers.
Thats Nystrom again! That infernal hell-fiend! she whispered breathlessly to herself.
Then, removing her smart shoes and her jingling bangles, she crept stealthily forth along the soft carpet of the corridor, and with great care ascended the stairs to the floor above, which was occupied by that long room, the door of which was always kept locked the room in which her father conducted his constant experiments.
From the ray of light she saw that the door was ajar. Within, the two men were talking in low deep tones in German.
She could hear a hard sound, as of metal being filed down, and more than once distinguished the clinking of glass, as though her father was engaged in some experiment with his test-tubes and other scientific paraphernalia which she had seen arranged so methodically upon the two long deal tables.
What has Ortmann told you? asked Theodore Drosts midnight visitor, while his daughter stood back within the long cupboard on the landing, listening.
He says that all is in order. We have a friend awaiting us.
And the payment eh? asked the man Nystrom, a German who had been naturalised as a Swede, and now lived in London as a neutral. As a professor of chemistry he had been well-known in Stockholm and, being a bosom friend of the Dutch pastors, the pair often delighted in dabbling together in their favourite science.
I shall meet Ernst on Friday night. If we are successful, he will pay two thousand pounds to be equally divided between us.
Good, grunted the other. We shall be successful, never fear that is if Ortmann has arranged things at his end. Himmel! what a shock it will be eh, my friend? worse than the Zeppelins!
Theodore Drost laughed gleefully, while his daughter, daring to creep forward again, peered through the crack of the door and saw the pair bending over what looked like a square steel despatch-box standing upon the table amid all the scientific apparatus.
The box, about eighteen inches long, a foot wide, and six inches deep, was khaki-covered, and, though she was not aware of it at the time, it was of the exact type used in the Government offices.
Fridtjof Nystrom, a tall, dark-haired man, with a red, blotchy face, rather narrow-eyed and round-shouldered, was adjusting something within the box, while old Drost, who had discarded his shabby black pastors coat and now wore a dark-brown jacket, took up a small glass retort beneath which the blue flame of a spirit-lamp had been burning, and from it he poured a few drops of some bright red liquid into a tiny tube of very thin glass. Then, taking a small blow-pipe, he blew the flame upon the tube until he had melted the glass and sealed it hermetically.
The blotchy-faced man watched this latter operation with great interest, saying:
Have a care now, my dear Theodore. The least mishap, and not a piece of either of us would remain to tell the story.
Ja! Leave that to me, answered Ellas father. We do not, I agree, desire a repetition of the disaster which happened last week.
Ella, hearing those words, stood aghast.
A week before all London had been mystified and horrified by a most remarkable explosion which had occurred one night in a house in one of the outer suburbs, whereby the place had been set on fire and utterly demolished. Whoever were present in the house had been blown to atoms, for no trace of the occupants, or of what had caused the disaster, had been discovered. At first it was believed to have been caused by an incendiary bomb dropped from the air, but expert evidence quickly established the fact that something within the house had exploded.
Was it possible that her father and his dastardly companions possessed knowledge of what had actually occurred there?
Suddenly, Drost having handed the tiny sealed tube to Nystrom, the latter proceeded to place it in position within the box, using most infinite care. Then her father turned upon his heel, and came forward to the door behind which his daughter was standing.
In a second Ella had shrunk back noiselessly into the cupboard, which the old man passed in the darkness, and descended the stairs.
He had passed the door of Ellas room when, having gained the bottom of the stairs, he paused and whistled softly. In a few seconds Nystrom came forth.
Come, Fridtjof, he urged in a low whisper. Let us drink to the success of our expedition to-night, and the victory of our dear Fatherland, an invitation which his visitor at once accepted.
Ella heard the two men descend, making but little noise, and a moment later she crept into the long, well-lit laboratory where, upon the table, stood the big official-looking despatch-box.
A seconds glance was sufficient to reveal the truth even to her, a woman unversed as she was in such things. It was a most ingeniously-constructed infernal machine which would detonate the quantity of high-explosive which she saw had been placed within.
Though her father had taken the greatest precaution to conceal from his daughter the exact line of his chemical experiments, yet, if the truth be told, Ella and her lover had watched carefully, and Kennedy who had shared his well-beloveds suspicions had ascertained, without doubt, that Drost and Nystrom had been engaged in that long, low room beneath the roof, in treating toluene with nitric and sulphuric acid for several days under heat thus producing tri-nitro-toluene or trotul that modern high-explosive, of terrible force, which was rapidly superseding picric acid as a base for shell-fillers.
At a glance Ella saw that the square steel bomb, fashioned like an official despatch-box, was filled with this highly dangerous explosive, and that the thin glass tube which, when broken, would explode it, had already been placed in position. Such a bomb, on exploding in a confined space, must work the most terrible havoc.
In those few seconds the girl verified the suspicion which Kennedy had entertained. Some desperate outrage was to be committed. That was quite certain.
A bomb from a Zeppelin could not cause greater injury to life and property than that ingeniously contrived machine, the delicately constructed fuse of which, fashioned on the lathe by her fathers own hands, could be arranged to detonate at any given time.
A seconds pause, and then the girl, beneath her breath, took a deep oath of vengeance against the ruler of that hated land wherein she had been born.
Thank Heaven that I am English! she whispered to herself. And I will live and die, if necessary as an English girl should.
With those words upon her lips she crept away from the laboratory, down the stairs to her room, and, swiftly putting on her fur coat, she went into the basement, from which she let herself out noiselessly, and then hurried through the night, in the direction of Hammersmith Bridge.
On gaining the bridge, she saw the red rear-light of a motor-car, and knew that it was Kennedys. He had drawn up against the kerb, and had been consuming cigarettes waiting in impatience for a long time.
Well, darling? he asked, as they met. I got your message from the theatre to-night. What is in progress?
Something desperate, was her quick reply. Lets get into the car and Ill explain.
Both entered the comfortable little coupé, and then Ella explained in detail to her flying-man lover all that she had discovered.
The keen-faced, clean-shaven young officer in uniform who, before he had gone in for aviation duties, had graduated at Osborne, and afterwards been at sea and risen from snotty to lieutenant, sat beside her, listening intently.
The keen-faced, clean-shaven young officer in uniform who, before he had gone in for aviation duties, had graduated at Osborne, and afterwards been at sea and risen from snotty to lieutenant, sat beside her, listening intently.
Just as we thought, darling, he remarked. For me, loving you so dearly, it is a terrible thing to know that your father is such a deadly and ingenious enemy of ours as he is. Truly the German plotters are in our midst in every walk of life, from high society down to the scum of the East End. The brutes are out to win the war by any underhand, subtle, and brutal means in their power. But we have discovered one line of their enemy intentions and, with your aid, dearest, we will follow it up and, without exposing your father and bringing disgrace upon you, well set out to combat them every time.
Agreed, dear, declared the girl with patriotic enthusiasm. I have told you all along of my suspicions. To-night they are verified. Father, and that devilish scoundrel, Nystrom, mean mischief for payment too one thousand pounds each!
The infernal brutes! exclaimed the man at her side. At least it is to you, dear, that this discovery is due. I had no idea what you were after when you sent me that wire to-night.
I suspected, and my suspicions have proved correct, said the girl. Shall we wait here and follow them? They must cross the river if they intend to go into London to-night as no doubt they do.
Yes. They believe you to be soundly asleep, I suppose?
I locked my door, and have the key in my pocket, replied his well-beloved with a light laugh.
And she, putting her ready lips to his, sat with him in the car at the foot of the long suspension-bridge, waiting for any person to cross.
They remained there for perhaps half-an-hour, ever eager and watchful. Several taxis passed, but otherwise all was quiet in the night. Now and then across the sky fell the big beams of searchlights seeking enemy aircraft, and these they were watching, when, suddenly, a powerful, dark-painted car approached.
Look! cried Ella. Why, thats that fellow Benyons car hes a friend of Dads!
Next moment it flashed past, and beneath the dim light at the head of the bridge they both caught a glimpse of two men within, one of whom was undoubtedly Theodore Drost.
Quick! cried Ella. Lets follow them! Fortunately you have to-night another car, unknown to them!
In an instant Seymour Kennedy had started his engine, and slowly he drew out across the bridge, speeding after the retreating car over the river, along Bridge Road to Hammersmith Broadway and through Brook Green, in a direction due north.
Through the London streets it was not difficult at that hour to follow the red tail-light of the car in which Drost sat with his bosom friend George Benyon, a mysterious person who seemed to be an adventurer, and who lived somewhere in York or its vicinity.
I wonder if they are going up to York? Ella asked, as she sat in the deep seat of the coupé at her lovers side.
Well see. If they get on to the North Road we shall at once know their intentions, was her lovers reply.
Half-an-hour later the pseudo-Dutch pastor and his companion, driven by rather a reckless young fellow, were on the main Great North Road, and Kennedy, possessing a lighter and superior car, had no misgivings as to overtaking them whenever he wished.
On through the night they went, passing Barnet, Hatfield, Hitchin, the cross-roads at Wansford, and up the crooked pebbled streets of Stamford, until in the grey of morning they descended into Grantham, with its tall spire and quaint old Angel and Crown Hotel.
It was there that Drost and his companion breakfasted, while Ella and her lover waited and watched.
Some devilish plot of a high-explosive nature was in progress, but of its true import they were in utter ignorance. Yet their two British hearts beat quickly in unison, and both were determined to frustrate the outrage, even at the sacrifice of their own lives.
At three oclock in the afternoon Drost and Benyon drew up at the Station Hotel at York, and there took lunch, while Ella and her lover ate a very hurried and much-needed meal in the railway-buffet in the big station adjoining.
Then, after they had watched the departure of the big mud-spattered car which contained the two conspirators, they were very quickly upon the road again after them.
Out of the quiet old streets of York city, past the Minster, they turned eastward upon that well-kept highway which led towards the North Sea Coast.
An hours run brought them to the pleasant town which I must not, with the alarming provisions of the Defence of the Realm Act before me, indicate with any other initial save that of J .
The town of J , built upon a deep and pretty bay forming a natural harbour with its breakwater and pier, was, in the pre-war days, a popular resort of the summer girl with her transparent blouses and her pretty bathing costumes, but since hostilities, it was a place believed to be within the danger zone.
As they descended, by the long, winding road, into the town, they could see, in the bay, a big grey four-funnelled first-class cruiser lying at anchor, the grey smoke curling lazily from her striped funnels resting there no doubt after many weeks of patrol duty in the vicinity of the Kiel Canal.
Indeed, as they went along the High Street, they saw a number of clear-eyed liberty men bluejackets bearing upon their caps the name H.M.S. Oakham.
The car containing Ellas father and his companion pulled up at the Palace Hotel, a big imposing place, high on the cliff, therefore Kennedy, much satisfied that he had thus been able to follow the car for over two hundred miles, went on some little distance to the next available hotel.
This latter place, like the Palace, afforded a fine view of the bay, and as they stood at a window of the palm-lined lounge, they could see that upon the cruiser lights were already appearing.
Kennedy called the waiter for a drink, and carelessly asked what was in progress.
The ship the Oakham came in the day before yesterday, sir, the man replied. Theres a party on board this evening, they say our Mayor and corporation, and all the rest.
Ella exchanged glances with her lover. She recollected that khaki-covered despatch-box. Had her father brought with him that terrible death-dealing machine which he and Nystrom had constructed with such accursed ingenuity?
The hotel was deserted, as east coast hotels within the danger zone usually were in those war days, remaining open only for the occasional traveller and for the continuity of its licence. The great revue star had sent a telegram to her manager, asking that her understudy should play that night, and the devoted pair now stood side by side watching how, in the rapidly falling night, the twinkling electric lights on board the fine British cruiser became more clearly marked against the grey background of stormy sea and sky.
I wonder what their game can really be? remarked the young flying-officer reflectively as, alone with Ella, his strong arm crept slowly around her neat waist.
From where they stood they were afforded a wide view of the broad road which led from the town down to the landing-stage, from which the cruisers steam pinnace and picket-boat were speeding to and fro between ship and shore. A dozen or so smart motor-cars had descended the road, conveying the guests of the captain and officers who, after their long and unrelaxing vigil in the North Sea, certainly deserved a little recreation. Then, as the twilight deepened and the stars began to shine out over the bay, it was seen that the procession of guests had at last ended.