Ambrose Lavendale, DiplomatOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
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Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
English fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, English; Spy stories, English
'I was motoring along the road,' she explained, 'when I saw you stop,'
she went on, turning towards the General. 'I remembered that I had
heard there was to be a review here. I thought I might see something
of it.'
There was a silence.
'Perhaps,' Merrill suggested, 'the young lady will give us her name and
address?'
She raised her eyebrows slightly.
'But willingly,' she answered. 'I am Miss Suzanne de Freyne, and my
address is at the Milan Court. I haven't done anything wrong, have I?'
'Nothing at all,' Lavendale assured her hastily. 'It's we who feel
guilty.'
'But what does it all mean?' she demanded, a little pathetically. 'I
was just walking across the field when suddenly that happened. I felt
as though all the strength were going out of my body. I didn't exactly
suffocate, but it was just as though I was swallowing something which
stopped in my throat.'
'Capital!' Mr. Hurn exclaimed, his face beaming. 'Most interesting!
Perhaps, after all,' he went on complacently, 'if we may take it for
granted that the young lady's presence is entirely accidental, her
experience is not without some interest to us.'
'But will no one tell me what it means?' she persisted.
There was a silence. Lavendale was suddenly oppressed by a queer
foreboding. The General took Miss de Freyne courteously by the arm and
led her on one side. He pointed with his riding whip to the gate where
the limousine was standing.
'Young lady,' he said, 'Captain Merrill here will take you back to your
car. You will confer a great obligation upon every one here, and upon
your country, if you allow this little incident to pass from your mind.'
She laughed softly. Her eyes seemed to be seeking for something in
Lavendale's face which she failed to find. Then she turned away with a
shrug of the shoulders and glanced up at Captain Merrill.
'I am not a prisoner, am I?' she asked. 'Let me assure you all,' she
declared, with a little wave of farewell, 'that I never want to think
of this hateful spot again.'
They watched her pass through the gate and enter the car which was
standing in the road.
'Does any one know her?' the General inquired.
'She was at the next table to Mr. Hurn here when I spoke to him at the
Milan,' Lavendale observed thoughtfully. 'She was listening to our
conversation. It may be a coincidence, but it seems strange that she
should have been on our heels just at this particular moment.'
The General passed his arm through Mr. Hurn's.
'The Intelligence Department shall make a few inquiries,' he promised.
'As for you, my dear sir, our positions are now reversed. My time is
yours. I will find another opportunity to inspect these troops. Will
you return with me to the War Office at once?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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