Secret History of To-day: Being Revelations of a Diplomatic SpyUpward, Allen
History
Secret History of To-day: Being Revelations of a Diplomatic Spy
Upward, Allen
English fiction -- 20th century; Spy stories, English
On alighting in the Belgian capital I was met by my faithful
henchman, who informed me with sparkling eyes that he had succeeded,
by means of a bribe, in ascertaining from a clerk in the Foreign
Office that a passport had been granted to the Comte de Saint Pol and
secretary, travelling to Berlin.
If anything had been needed to convince me that the journey of Prince
Napoleon had a serious purpose, these concealments would have done
so. I was now confident that I was on the right track, and I did not
grudge the fatigue involved in a journey across Europe.
I ordered Fouqué, as my man was named, to resume his watch on the
Prince’s abode, while I waited at the station from which the Berlin
express takes its departure. It was understood that we were both
to proceed by the same train as the Comte de Saint Pol and his
companion.
No hitch occurred; the Prince, accompanied by his secretary and
my agent, duly arrived to take their seats in the train, and the
four of us alighted together in the capital of Germany. I had spent
the interval in considering my plan of action. I was so far from
foreseeing the true cause of Prince Napoleon’s mysterious journey,
that I expected to find him closeted the next day with the German
Emperor, imparting the confidence which Garnier had refused to me.
The event proved very different.
As soon as the two travellers had taken up their quarters in a hotel,
whither, it is needless to say, we accompanied them, the secretary
was sent out on an errand by himself. Fouqué, of course, followed,
and came back in about an hour with the startling information that
the secretary had been to the Russian Embassy.
The meaning of this proceeding flashed upon me at once. The real
destination of the Prince was not Berlin, but Petersburg. He was
merely passing a few hours in Berlin in order to confuse the trail,
and he had sent his passport to the Embassy to be _viséd_ for Russia.
In order to make sure that my surmise was correct, I decided to
make use of my implied authority to act on behalf of the German
Government. I ordered Fouqué to force his way bodily into the Count’s
apartment, announce himself as an agent of the Berlin police, and
demand to see the stranger’s passport. The ruse was completely
successful, and I learned that the yellow seal of the Russian Eagle
had been affixed to the paper.
My own task had now become difficult and dangerous. Although I
maintain friendly relations with the Russian police, with whom I
have often collaborated, I knew they were not likely to tolerate my
intrusion into their territory as the spy of a foreign Power. In
dealing with half-reclaimed savages like the Slaves, one never knows
what form their revenge will take, and Siberia is not a country in
which I have ever had any inclination to reside.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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