"Yet it is not difficult. Information tells us that you at one time sought to marry her. Since coming to England you renewed your acquaintance. I desire the exact explanation. I may need to use the--relationship."

The flush had left the other's cheeks. His eyes took on a smile of meaning.

"At one time I had such thoughts. Now I have no desire to--marry her."

"Ah!"

Von Berger had faced round from the library table at which he was seated, and, crossing his legs, sat contemplatively with his elbows supported on the arms of his chair and his chin resting upon his clasped hands.

Von Salzinger stirred.

"I regard her now as one of my country's enemies. There can be no thought of marriage with one's country's enemy. Such can never receive the consideration we display towards our own womankind. In war the woman is the prize of the victor. That is real war."

The callous brutality of the man was revolting. But the other gave no sign. He contented himself with a continuance of his cold regard, and a further e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.

Encouraged by this negative sign of approval Von Salzinger ventured an interrogation.

"How can my relations with her further your plans, Excellency?"

"I am not quite sure--yet." Then Von Berger bestirred himself. "It is necessary to lay hands on Von Hertzwohl--at once, and----"

He broke off. At that moment a knock at the door interrupted him.

Von Salzinger sprang to his feet and hurried across the room. After reclosing the door he returned to Von Berger.

"Va.s.silitz has brought this telegram. It arrived last night at Redwithy Farm. Does your Excellency wish to speak to him?"

Von Berger took the message and opened it. It was addressed to Madame Vladimir at Redwithy Farm. The set of his features relaxed as he read the brief communication. Then he pa.s.sed it across to Von Salzinger.

"Much news in a few words," was his comment.

The other perused the telegram carefully. It came from Dorby--

"All's well. Arrived safely. Returning to town. Love.--Ruxton."

"It means----?"

"Von Hertzwohl has arrived in England. At Dorby. Also that he returns to London--Farlow, I mean, and that he is obviously the lover of the woman whom you regard as the prize of the victor. Tell Va.s.silitz to return to the farm without delay, to remain watchful, and to continue to act as instructed. I must interview the Princess."

Vita's painful contemplation and misery were rudely broken in upon.

Just as the shadows of the dreary day were beginning to deepen prematurely the door of her sitting-room was silently thrust open, and Frederick von Berger made his unwelcome appearance.

He stood for one moment contemplating the beautiful drooping figure without the smallest sign of emotion. Then he moved forward over the polished floor, and the sound of his approach acted like an electric current upon the woman at the window. She had been caught at a disadvantage, but, in an instant, all her pride and courage rose superior to every other emotion. She sat up, and the haughty displeasure in her eyes found vent in cold words which must have stung deeply any other personality but that of their present object.

"It would be superfluous to protest at an intrusion where neither honesty, justice, nor a sense of decency exists. All I can hope for is that whatever your business may be you will complete it, and relieve me of your obnoxious presence as quickly as possible."

There was a cold scorn in the simple words which was enhanced threefold by reason of the calm with which they were delivered.

If Frederick von Berger appreciated it he gave no sign. The words might not have been spoken in so far as they deflected for a second the purpose of his coming.

He came close up to the window in which Vita was sitting. His gaze avoided her and was directed towards the gloomy prospect beyond it. His powerful figure was carried erectly, doubtless from the severity of his early military training, but it possessed a litheness quite unusual, a litheness which the angular figure of Von Salzinger completely lacked.

The latent strength of the man was indomitable, and under other conditions it would have been something the woman must have admired.

Now she only saw the cruelty in his hard eyes, and the absolutely cold set of the features which seemed rendered immobile thereby.

He raised one foot and rested it upon the window-seat, and, bending so that an arm rested upon his knee, he glanced down into the averted face.

"I have come to tell you that your position has somewhat changed since you became my guest here," he said, in level tones. "To my very great regret it has been discovered that you are as deeply concerned in the plot which has cost us the secrets of Borga as those others. I have received a telegram, intended for you, announcing your father's arrival in this country. The manner in which it is written conveys beyond doubt that you are perfectly intimate with all the plans of the conspiracy, and even that one of the people most concerned is your lover. So you see that changes the aspect of the matter so far as you are concerned."

"You have intercepted a message from Mr. Ruxton Farlow?"

Vita's face was no longer averted. All her woman's pride was outraged.

To think that this creature's eyes should have read the lines which Ruxton had meant only for hers. She thought nothing of the significance of her own position as a result of that letter. Only was the sacrilege this man had committed apparent to her.

She believed she was dealing merely with a mechanism of Prussian tyranny. She was incapable of regarding this man as anything else. But Frederick von Berger had calculated every word he had uttered. Human nature was a lifelong study with him--even that which he could claim for his own.

"Exactly," he replied. "And the fact has made your position very precarious, very precarious indeed."

The significance of his simple statement would no longer be denied.

Vita caught her breath. Her swift, upward glance in his direction had something of the alarm which he desired to witness in it.

He removed his foot from the silken cushion and stood up.

"Princess," he went on, "I came to England with very stringent orders----"

"Who gives Frederick von Berger orders?" cried Vita impulsively. "Not even the Emperor. There is only one person who gives orders to Prince von Berger in Germany--himself. It is useless to deny it. All that you have done here--are doing--is of your own initiative."

But the man continued as though the interruption had not taken place.

"The orders I have received admit of only one course of action--the punishment by death of the traitors to my country, and the complete nullification of the effects of the plot. These things will be carried out regardless of all cost and consequence. There will be no tempering with mercy. Justice, cold justice alone will be meted out--regardless of s.e.x."

"The question of justice I doubt. The matter of s.e.x is a foregone conclusion. There is ample precedent for that."

The bitterness of the woman's words came from her heart. She knew that he was threatening that her life was forfeit, but the fact seemed to leave her untouched since that first swift glance of apprehension.

"The point is not one which I care to debate," the man returned, with his curious, simple directness. "It is not for me to possess an opinion on any matter where authority or the conduct of the State is concerned.

I can only a.s.sure you that duty will be carried out inexorably. For you the position becomes deplorable. For you to have committed yourself to intrigues which have for their purpose the betrayal of your country is an outrage which calls for no mercy. You will have to face a penalty similar to that which awaits your father. That penalty is--death."

"Death!"

The echo came in a whisper. It was a startled whisper, as though Vita's brain were striving to grasp the full significance of the word as applied to herself. Her eyes were no longer on the man's face. They were contemplating the scene beyond the window without observing it.

Then, slowly, a change came over her. Her body seemed to draw itself erect. The scorn that had lain in her eyes a few minutes ago had given place to a curious cold calm. Her shapely lips compressed tightly, and she faced unflinchingly the man who had p.r.o.nounced the sentence. Her eyes regarded him for some thoughtful moments. It almost seemed as though she were striving to probe beneath that cold mask to the thoughts and emotions which she felt must lie behind it. Then a curious smile grew in them, a smile of renewed contempt that must have been insupportable to a man of any feeling.

"And the alternative? I suppose there is an alternative. A death sentence so p.r.o.nounced is generally inspired by an all-important alternative. Do you desire me to betray my friends? Do you desire me to hand my father over to execution? Do you desire me to tell you where the secrets you desire to recover are bestowed? Do you desire me to a.s.sist you to restore to your country the cruel means with which you hope to crush the heart of humanity some time in the future? Let me hear it all, the whole depth to which you desire to force me to descend. I have always wondered at the possible profundity to which the Prussian mind can descend in its lack of human understanding. Well, Prince, you had better say all you have to say now. For after this I shall claim the privilege of every condemned person to pa.s.s out of the world in peace." Then her contemptuous smile deepened. "But perhaps I am to be denied that privilege. Perhaps there is no such privilege in the Prussian code. Perhaps I am to be placed upon the rack, and tortured until I confess. I feel it would only be a fitting outcome of the Kultur to which your countrymen have risen. I am waiting to hear anything further you have to say."

It would have been impossible to tell from the man's att.i.tude the effect of these words. Not a muscle of his features stirred. His regard remained coldly contemplative.