The Fate Of A Spy

: The Coming Conquest Of England

Colonel Mercier-Milon reported from Brussels that he had arrested

Countess Arselaarts and thought he had made a valuable capture. The

Countess was deeply in debt and lived very extravagantly. A little time

ago she had been assisted financially by an exalted personage, who had

left the country. Since then her resources had become exhausted, and

it was supposed that she had acted as a spy for the English at a high

salary
He added that he was on the point of discovering a widespread

network of espionage in France and Belgium.



Herr van Spranekhuizen and Hinnerk Brodersen of Schleswig had also been

arrested the same morning.



"I wish we had trustworthy information as to the strength of the British

fleet," said the Lieutenant-Colonel, who had communicated the above

report to Heideck. "Sometimes I am really inclined to believe that this

fleet is not so effective as all the world has hitherto assumed. It

is almost impossible for outsiders to get a clear insight into the

condition of the English navy. So far as I can remember, false

reports are systematically published about the fleet--officially,

semi-officially, and privately. From time to time a speaker is put up

in Parliament by the Government to deliver a violent attack on the naval

administration. He is contradicted by a representative of the Admiralty,

and dust is again thrown in the eyes of the world. On one of Queen

Victoria's last birthdays a powerful squadron, as it was called, was

assembled for review off Spithead. But no foreigner was allowed a close

inspection of these imposing fleets, and I am greatly inclined to think

that it was another case of the famous movable villages, which Potemkin

showed the Russian Empress on her journey to the Crimea. Official

statements give the number of English warships as more than four

hundred, not including torpedo-boats, but amongst them is a large number

of obsolete and inefficient vessels."



Heideck nodded.



"If the English fleet were really so efficient as is believed, it would

be difficult to understand why it has not attempted any decisive action

up till now."



"That is also my view. The Copenhagen fleet would have attacked Kiel

harbour long ago. It was said that it was to hold the Russian fleet in

check. But that would be superfluous to start with, as long as the Gulfs

of Bothnia and Finland were blocked with ice and the Russian squadrons

were unable to move. This way of making war reminds me forcibly of the

state of things in the Crimean War, when a powerful English fleet

set out with a great flourish of trumpets against Cronstadt and St.

Petersburg, but did nothing except bombard Bomarsund, a place nobody

cared about. The English Press had great difficulty in excusing the

fiasco of its world-renowned fleet."



Returning to the previous subject of conversation, Heideck said to the

Lieutenant-Colonel: "I don't think we need trouble ourselves any more

about the communications of Countess Arselaarts and Messrs. Amelungen

and Co. The court-martial may settle with them. I attach incomparably

greater importance to skipper Brandelaar, whom I hold in my hand, and

through whom--perhaps with the help of Camille Penurot--I hope to

obtain information about the British fleet and its proposed employment.

Brandelaar's vessel should now be off Ternenzen. I will ask you, Herr

Lieutenant-Colonel, to have the man and his crew arrested to-day."



"But how does that agree with your intention of using him as a spy in

our interest?"



"I forgot to tell you that it is an agreement between Brandelaar and

myself. He himself thought it necessary for his own safety; he was

afraid of the crew. Of course it will only be a sham examination,

and the man must be released as soon as possible, on the ground of

insufficient evidence, so that he can return to England to-morrow."



The Lieutenant-Colonel promised to do as the Major desired.



The same evening Heideck met Penurot by arrangement at a tavern.



"Our business is somewhat complicated," said Heideck. "There must be

some more people working for your father, hitherto unknown to us."



"Why do you think that, Herr major?"



"Your father had some letters from Admiral Hollway, which were not

brought by Brandelaar."



"Yes, yes, I know. I can imagine that."



"Do you know who brought them over?"



"I don't know for certain, but I can guess."



"Can't you get me more certain information?"



"I will try."



"How will you set about it?"



"There are some sailors' taverns here, where I hope to get on the track.

But they are desperate fellows, and it is dangerous to meddle with

them."



"If you will point out the taverns to me, I will have all the customers

arrested to-night."



"For Heaven's sake, don't, Herr major! We should ruin everything by

that. These men would let themselves be cut to pieces rather than betray

anything to you. If anyone can get them to speak, it is myself."



"Wouldn't you be trusting them too much?"



"No, no. I know best how to deal with them, and I know many ways of

making them open their mouths."



"Well, do what you can. The matter is important. I am very anxious to

find someone to obtain trustworthy information about the British fleet,

and you know we don't spare money."



Penurot was ready to attempt his difficult task at once, and took

leave of Heideck, promising to meet him soon after midnight at the same

tavern. Heideck left the restaurant soon after him, and walked along

the quay Van Dyck, to cool his heated brow. In time of war the town

presented a strangely altered appearance. There was a swarm of German

soldiers in the streets; the usual busy traffic at the harbour had

entirely ceased. There had been no trade since the German warships, like

floating citadels, had been lying in the Schelde. And yet it was almost

incomprehensible, how the change had come about so rapidly. Antwerp

was an almost impregnable fortress, if the flooding of the surrounding

country was undertaken in time. But the Belgian Government had not even

made an attempt at defence, when the vanguard of the seventh and

eighth army corps had appeared in the neighbourhood of the town. It had

surrendered the fortress at once, with all its strong outer forts,

to the German military commanders and had withdrawn its own army. The

Imperial Chancellor was certainly right in attaching such importance

to the possession of Antwerp by Germany. The population was almost

exclusively Flemish, and Antwerp was thus in nationality a German town.



From the general political situation Heideck's thoughts returned to

Edith and her letter, and at last he decided to write to her that very

evening.



To carry out his intention, he went back to the restaurant where he

had met Penurot, and called for ink and paper. When he had finished his

letter, he looked over the words he had written, in which, contrary to

his usual practice, he had given utterance to his real feelings:--





"MY DEAR EDITH,--In the exercise of my duty, I accidentally came into

possession of your letter to Frau Amelungen. I was looking for something

quite different at the time, and you can imagine how great was my

surprise at the unexpected discovery.



"From the hour when we were obliged to separate and you, possibly not

without resentment and reproach, held out your hand at parting, I have

felt more and more how indispensable you are to me. I treasure every

word you have said to me, every look you have bestowed upon me, and

your image is before my mind, ever brighter, ever more beautiful. I have

never met a woman whose mind was so beautiful, so refined, so keen as

yours. I must confess that your ideas at first sometimes terrified me.

Your views are often so far removed from the commonplace, so far above

the ordinary, that it needs time to estimate them correctly. If I now

recall to mind what formerly seemed strange to me, it is only with

feelings of admiration. From day to day the impression you made upon

me at our first conversation has sunk deeper into my mind, and the

comforting certainty, that love for you will fill my entire life in the

future, grows more and more unshakable.



"Nevertheless, I may not regret that I had the strength to leave you

at Naples. The beautiful dream of our life together would have been

disturbed too soon by the rude reality. My duty calls me from one place

to another, and as long as this war lasts I am not my own master for an

hour. We must have patience, Edith. Even this campaign cannot last for

ever, and if Heaven has decreed that I shall come out of it alive, we

shall meet again, never more to part.



"You may not be able to answer this letter, for communication with

Frau Amelungen is interrupted. But I know you will answer me if it is

possible, and I am happy to think that, by letting you know I am alive,

I have given you a pleasure, soon, I hope, to be followed by the

still greater happiness of meeting again. Let us wait patiently and

confidently for that hour!"





He sealed the letter and put it in his pocket, in order to hand it over

to Brandelaar on the following day. He then waited for the reappearance

of Penurot, who had promised to be back at midnight. But although he

waited nearly an hour over the time in the tavern, he waited in vain.

The terms in which Herr Amelungen's natural son had spoken of the people

he intended to look for that evening made the Major anxious about his

fate. Before returning to his quarters, he paid a visit to the town

police office, requesting that a search might be made in the less

reputable sailors' taverns near the harbour for M. Camille Penurot, of

whose appearance he gave a careful description.



As there was no news of him on the following morning, Heideck felt

almost certain that the affair had turned out disastrously for Penurot.

However, for the moment, he could not stop to investigate the young

man's whereabouts.



He was informed by the Lieutenant-Colonel that Brandelaar, whose vessel

actually lay off Ternenzen, had been arrested with his crew, examined,

and liberated during the course of the night, as had been agreed between

the two officers.



Heideck now set out for Ternenzen to give Brandelaar the information for

Admiral Hollway that had been collected at his office, together with the

private information that was of such importance to him.



At last, having paid Brandelaar a thousand francs on account, Heideck

also gave him the letter to Edith, with careful instructions as to

its delivery. The skipper, whose zeal for the cause of Germany was now

undoubtedly honourable, repeatedly promised to carry out his orders

conscientiously and to the best of his power.



On returning to Antwerp at noon, Heideck found a communication at his

office from the police to the effect that Camille Penurot's body had

been found in one of the harbour basins, stabbed in several places in

the breast and neck. A search for the assassins had been immediately set

on foot, but up to the present no trace of them had been discovered.



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