The Cornhill Magazine, (vol. XLI, no. 243 new series, September 1916)Various
History
The Cornhill Magazine, (vol. XLI, no. 243 new series, September 1916)
Various
England -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
Hagan appeared in due course, was shown into No. 5 berth, and the train
started. Cary asked himself whether he should go to bed as advised or
sit up reading. He decided to obey Dawson’s orders, but to take a look
in upon Hagan before settling down for the journey. He switched off his
lights, climbed upon the bed, and carefully unscrewed the little knob
which was like the one shown to him by Dawson. A beam of light stabbed
the darkness of his berth, and putting his eye with some difficulty
to the hole--one’s nose gets so confoundedly in the way--he saw Hagan
comfortably arranging himself for the night. The spy had no suspicion
of his watchers on both sides, for, after settling himself in bed, he
unwrapped a flat parcel, and took out a bundle of blue papers which
Cary at once recognised as the originals of his stolen Notes. Hagan
went through them--he had put his suit-case across his knees to form
a desk--and carefully made marginal jottings. Cary, who had often
tried to write in trains, could not but admire the man’s laborious
patience. He painted his letters and figures over and over again, in
order to secure distinctness, in spite of the swaying of the train, and
frequently stopped to suck the point of his pencil.
‘I suppose,’ thought Cary, ‘that Dawson yonder is just gloating over
his prey, but for my part I feel an utterly contemptible beast. Never
again will I set a trap for even the worst of my fellow-creatures.’ He
put back the knob, went to bed, and passed half the night in extreme
mental discomfort and the other half in snatching brief intervals of
sleep. It was not a pleasant journey.
Dawson did not come out of his berth at Euston until after Hagan had
left the station in a taxicab, much to Cary’s surprise, and then was
quite ready, even anxious, to remain for breakfast at the hotel.
He explained his strange conduct. ‘Two of my men,’ said he, as he
wallowed in tea and fried soles--one cannot get Dover soles in the
weary North--‘who travelled in ordinary compartments, are after Hagan
in two taxis, so that if one is delayed the other will keep touch.
Hagan’s driver also has had a police warning, so that our spy is in a
barbed-wire net. I shall hear before very long all about him.’
Cary and Dawson spent the morning at the hotel with a telephone beside
them; every few minutes the bell would ring, and a whisper of Hagan’s
movements steal over the wires into the ears of the spider Dawson. He
reported progress to Cary with ever-increasing satisfaction.
‘Hagan has applied for and been granted a passport to Holland, and
has booked a passage in the boat which leaves Harwich to-night for
the Hook. We will go with him. The other two spies, with the copies,
haven’t turned up yet, but they are all right. My men will see them
safe across into Dutch territory, and make sure that no blundering
Customs officer interferes with their papers. This time the way of
transgressors shall be very soft. As for Hagan, he is not going to
arrive.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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