THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE BY EDGAR WALLACE Author of “Keepers of the King’s Peace,” “People of the River,” etc. WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED LONDON AND MELBOURNE 1929 CONTENTS Chapter I. Alexander and the Lady Chapter II. The Man who Dwelt on a Hill Chapter III. The Lovely Miss Harrymore Chapter IV. The Affair of Mister Haynes Chapter V. The Man from the Stars Chapter VI. The Affair of the Allies’ Conference Chapter VII. The Word of a Prince Chapter VIII. The Jermyn Credit Bank Chapter IX. Mr. Collingrey, M.P.--Pacifist! Chapter X. The Grey Envelope Chapter XI. The Murderers Chapter XII. The Passing of Heine Chapter XIII. The U-Boat Adventure Chapter XIV. Brethren of the Order Chapter XV. The World Dictator Chapter XVI. The Syren Chapter XVII. The Coming of the Bolsheviks Chapter XVIII. The Going of Heine Endnotes THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE CHAPTER I. ALEXANDER AND THE LADY Secret Service work is a joke in peace time and it is paid on joke rates. People talk of the fabulous sums of money which our Government spend on this kind of work, and I have no doubt a very large sum was spent every year, but it had to go a long way. Even Herr Kressler, of the Bremen-America Line, who gave me my monthly cheque, used to nod and wink when he handed over my two hundred marks. “Ah, my good Heine,” he would say, stroking his stubbly beard, “they make a fool of me, the Government, but I suppose I mustn’t ask who is your other paymaster?” “Herr Kressler,” said I earnestly, “I assure you that this is the whole sum I receive from the Government.” “So!” he would say and shake his head: “Ah, you are close fellows and I mustn’t ask questions!” There was little to do save now and again to keep track of some of the bad men, the extreme Socialists, and the fellows who ran away from Germany to avoid military service. I often wished there were more, because it would have been possible to have made a little on one’s expenses. Fortunately, two or three of the very big men in New York and Chicago knew the work I was doing, and credited me with a much larger income than I possessed. The reputation of being well off is a very useful one, and in my case, it brought me all sorts of commissions and little tips which I could profitably exploit on Wall Street, and in one way or another I lived comfortably, had a nice apartment on Riverside Drive, backed horses, and enjoyed an occasional trip to Washington, at my Government’s expense. I first knew that war was likely to break out in July. I think we Germans understood the European situation much better than the English, and certainly much better than the Americans, and we knew that the event at Serajevo--by the way, poor Klein of our service and an old colleague of mine, was killed by the bomb which was intended for the Archduke, though nobody seems to have noticed the fact--would produce the war which Austria had been expecting or seeking an excuse to wage for two years.