MOTCHELL
PEIDE.
In the fog
Richard Harding Davis, Thomas Mitchell
Peirce, Frederic Dorr Steele



K


r

.
-Oi^











IN THE FOG









"/ cannot tell you how much I have to thank you for.'
Page Q2.


IN THE FOG.
I >
BY
Richard Harding Davis
ILLUSTRATED BY
THOMAS MITCHELL PEIRCE
fef F. D. STEELE

NEW YORK
R. H. RUSSELL
MCMI


Copyright, igor, by
Robert Howard Russell
All rights reserved
Entered at the Library of Congress, Washington, U. S. A.
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England
UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON
AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.



"This gave the Princess Zichy the chance she wanted
to rob me."





TO
Bruce and Nancy Clark


N


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"I cannot tell you how much I have to thank
you for." Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
The four strangers at supper were seated
together. Frederic Dorr Steele.
The men around the table turned and glanced
toward the gentleman in front of the fire-
place. Frederic Dorr Steele.
"I would tumble his unconscious form into a
hansom cab, and hold him prisoner until
daylight." Frederic Dorr Steele.
"My name," he said, " is Sears."
Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
"A square of light suddenly opened in the
night, and in it I saw a young gentleman in
evening dress." Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
"At my feet was the body of a beautiful wo-
man, lying at full length upon the floor."
Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
The Princess Zichy. Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
"This gave the Princess Zichy the chance she
wanted to rob me." Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
7


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"She knew she would be twenty thousand
pounds richer." Frederic Dorr Steele.
"I rushed across the room and threw out
everything on the bed." Frederic Dorr Steele.
"I threw everything in the dressing-case out
on the floor." Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
"We found him propped up iu bed with his
head bound in a bandage." Frederic Dorr Steele.
"In the drawing-room we found the body of
the Princess Zichy." Frederic Dorr Steele.
"' Entreating Chetney not to leave her.'"
Thomas Mitchell Peirce.
"What was the object of your plot?"
Frederic Dorr Steele.


IN THE FOG
CHAPTER I
THE Grill is the club most
difficult of access in the world.
To be placed on its rolls distin-
guishes the new member as greatly
as though he had received a vacant
Garter or had been caricatured in
"Vanity Pair."
Men who belong to the Grill Club
never mention that fact. If you were
to ask one of them which clubs he fre-
quents, he will name all save that par-
ticular one. He is afraid if he told
you he belonged to the Grill, that it
would sound like* boasting.
The Grill Club dates back to the days
when Shakespeare's Theatre stood on
the present site of the " Times" office.
It has a golden Grill which Charles
the Second presented to the Club,
9


IN THE FOG
and the original manuscript of "Tom
and Jerry in London," which was
bequeathed to it by Pierce Egan him-
self. The members, when they write
letters at the Club, still use sand to
blot the ink.
The Grill enjoys the distinction of
having blackballed, without political
prejudice, a Prime Minister of each
party. At the same sitting at which
one of these fell, it elected, on account
of his brogue and his bulls, Quiller,
Q. C, who was then a penniless bar-
rister.
When Paul Preval, the French artist
who came to London by royal com-
mand to paint a portrait of the Prince
of Wales, was made an honorary mem-
ber—only foreigners may be honorary
members — he said, as he signed his
first wine card, "I would rather see
my name on that, than on a picture
in the Louvre."
10


IN THE FOG
At which Quiller remarked, " That is
a devil of a compliment, because the
only men who can read their names in
the Louvre to-day have been dead fifty
years."
On the night after the great fog of
1897 there were five members in the
Club, four of them busy with supper
and one reading in front of the fire-
place. There is only one room to the
Club, and one long table. At the far
end of the room the fire of the grill
glows red, and, when the fat falls,
blazes into flame, and at the other
there is a broad bow window of dia-
mond panes, which looks down upon
the street. The four men at the table
were strangers to each other, but as
they picked at the grilled bones, and
sipped their Scotch and soda, they
conversed with such charming anima-
tion that a visitor to the Club, which
does not tolerate visitors, would have
11





IN THE FOG
tures. That African explorer, young
Chetney, who turned up yesterday after
he was supposed to have died in
Uganda, did nothing adventurous. He
made maps and explored the sources of
rivers. He was in constant danger, but
the presence of danger does not con-
stitute adventure. Were that so, the
chemist who studies high explosives,
or who investigates deadly poisons,
passes through adventures daily. No,
'adventures are for the adventurous.'
But one no longer ventures. The spirit
of it has died of inertia. We are
grown too practical, too just, above
all, too sensible. In this room, for in-
stance, members of this Club have, at
the sword's point, disputed the proper
scanning of one of Pope's couplets.
Over so weighty a matter as spilled
Burgundy on a gentleman's cuff, ten
men fought across this table, each with
his rapier in one hand and a candle
13


IN THE F 0 0
in the other. All ten were wounded.
The question of the spilled Burgundy
concerned but two of them. The eight
others engaged because they were men
of ' spirit.' They were, indeed, the first
gentlemen of the day. To-night, were
you to spill Burgundy on my cuff, were
you even to insult me grossly, these
gentlemen wouki not consider it incum-
bent upon them to kill each other.
They would separate us, and to-morrow
morning appear as witnesses against us
at Bow Street. We have here to-night,
in the persons of Sir Andrew and my-
self, an illustration of how the ways
have changed."
The men around the table turned
and glanced toward the gentleman in
front of the fireplace. He was an
elderly and somewhat portly person,
with a kindly, wrinkled countenance,
which wore continually a smile of al-
most childish confidence and good-
14



8
a
■a
a





IN THE FOG
"But to what end, sir?" inquired
the youngest of the members. "And
why Sir Andrew, of all persons — why
should you select him for this adven-
ture!"
The gentleman with the black pearl
shrugged his shoulders.
"It would prevent him speaking in
the House to-night. The Navy In-
crease Bill," he added gloomily. "It
is a Government measure, and ,Sir
Andrew speaks for it. And so great is
his influence and so large his follow-
ing that if he does" — the gentleman
laughed ruefully — "if he does, it will
go through. Now, had I the spirit of
our ancestors," he exclaimed, "I would
bring chloroform from the nearest
chemist's and drug him in that chair.
I would tumble his unconscious form
.into a hansom cab, and hold him pris-
oner until daylight. If I did, I would
save the British taxpayer the cost of

16



"I would tumble his unconscious form into a hansom
cab, and hold him prisoner until daylight."





IN THE FOG
five more battleships, many millions
of pounds."
The gentlemen again turned, and
surveyed the baronet with freshened
interest. The honorary member of the
Grill, whose accent already had be-
trayed him as an American, laughed
softly.
"To look at him now," he said, " one
would not guess he was deeply con-
cerned with the affairs of state."
The others nodded silently.
"He has not lifted his eyes from
that book since we first entered," added
the youngest member. "He surely
cannot mean to speak to-night."
"Oh, yes, he will speak," muttered
the one with the. black pearl moodily.
"During these last hours of the session
the House sits late, but when the Navy
bill comes up on its third reading he
will be in his place — and he will pass
it."
17


IN THE FOG
The fourth member, a stout and florid
gentleman of a somewhat sporting
appearance, in a short smoking-jacket
and black tie, sighed enviously.
"Fancy one of us being as cool as
that, if he knew he had to stand up
within an hour and rattle off a speech
in Parliament. I 'd be in a devil of a
funk myself. And yet he is as keen
over that book he's reading as though
he had nothing before him until bed-
time."
"Yes, see how eager he is," whis-
pered the youngest member. "He does
not lift his eyes even now when he
cuts the pages. It is probably an Ad-
miralty Eeport, or some other weighty
work of statistics which bears upon his
speech."
The gentleman with the black pearl
laughed morosely.
"The weighty work in which the
eminent statesman is so deeply en-
A
18


IN THE FOG
grossed," he said, " is called ' The Great
Rand Robbery.' It is a detective novel,
for sale at all bookstalls."
The American raised his eyebrows
in disbelief.
"'The Great Rand Robbery'?" he
repeated incredulously. "What an
odd taste!"
"It is not a taste, it is his vice,"
returned the gentleman with the pearl
stud. "It is his one dissipation. He is
noted for it. You, as a stranger, could
hardly be expected to know of this
idiosyncrasy. Mr. Gladstone sought
relaxation in the Greek poets, Sir
Andrew finds his in Gaboriau. Since
I have been a member of Parliament I
have never seen him in the library
without a shilling shocker in his hands.
He brings them even into the sacred
precincts of the House, and from the
Government benches reads them con/^
cealed inside his hat. Once started on
19


IK THE FOG
a tale of murder, robbery, and sudden
death, nothing can tear him from it,
not even the call of the division bell,
nor of hunger, nor the prayers of the
party Whip. He gave up his country
house because when he journeyed to
it in the train he would become so
absorbed in his detective stories that
he was invariably carried past his sta-
tion." The member of Parliament
twisted his pearl stud nervously, and
bit at the edge of his mustache. "If it
only were the first pages of ' The Rand
Robbery' that he were reading," he
murmured bitterly, "instead of the
last! With such another book as that,
I swear I could hold him here until
morning. There would be no need of
chloroform to keep him from the
House."
The eyes of all were fastened upon
Sir Andrew, and each saw with fascina-
tion that with his forefinger he was
20


IN THE FOG
scanned its face eagerly, and scrambled
to his feet.
The voice of the American instantly
broke the silence in a high, nervous
accent.
"And yet Sherlock Holmes himself,"
he cried, " could not decipher the mys-
tery which to-night baffles the police
of London."
At these unexpected words, which
carried in them something of the tone
of a challenge, the gentlemen about
the table started as suddenly as though
the American had fired a pistol in the
air, and Sir Andrew halted abruptly
and stood observing him with grave
surprise.
The gentleman with the black pearl
was the first to recover.
"Yes, yes," he said eagerly, throw-
ing himself across the table. "A mys-
tery that baffles the police of London.
22






"My name," he said, "is Sears."


IK THE FOG
I have heard nothing of it. Tell us at
once, pray do —tell us at once."
The American flushed uncomfort-
ably, and picked uneasily at the table-
cloth.
"No one but the police has heard
of it," he murmured, "and they only
through me. It is a remarkable crime,
to which, unfortunately, I am the only
person who can bear witness. Because
I am the only witness, I am, in spite
of my immunity as a diplomat, de-
tained in London by the authorities of
Scotland Yard. My name," he said,
inclining his head politely, "is Sears,
Lieutenant Ripley Sears of the United
States Navy, at present Naval Attache"
to the Court of Russia. Had I not
been detained to-day by the police I
would have started this morning for
Petersburg."
The gentleman with the black pearl
interrupted with so pronounced an ex-
23


IN THE FOG
clamation of excitement and delight
that the American stammered and
ceased speaking.
"Do you hear, Sir Andrew?" cried
the member of Parliament jubilantly.
"An American diplomat halted by our
police because he is the only witness
of a most remarkable crime — the most
remarkable crime, I believe you said,
sir," he added, bending eagerly toward
the naval officer, "which has occurred
in London in many years."
The American moved his head^ in
assent and glanced at the two< other
members. They were looking doubt-
fully at him, and the face of each
showed that he was greatly perplexed.
Sir Andrew advanced to within the
light of the candles and drew a chair
toward him.
"The crime must be exceptional in-
deed," he said, "to justify the police
in interfering with a representative of
24


IN THE FOG
a friendly power. If I were not forced
to leave at once, I should take the
liberty of asking you to tell us the
details."
The gentleman with the pearl pushed
the chair toward Sir Andrew, and mo-
tioned him to be seated.
"You cannot leave us now," he ex-
claimed. "Mr. Sears is just about to
tell us of this remarkable crime."
He nodded vigorously at the naval
officer and the American, after first
glaitcing doubtfully toward the serv-
ants at the far end of the room,
leaned forward across the table. The
others drew their chairs nearer and
bent toward him. The baronet glanced
irresolutely at his watch, and with an
exclamation of annoyance snapped
down the lid. "They can wait," he
muttered. He seated himself quickly
and nodded at Lieutenant Sears.
25


IN THE FOG
A
"If you will be so kind as to begin,
sir," he said impatiently.
"Of course," said the American,
"you understand that I understand that
I am speaking to gentlemen. The con-
fidences of this Club are inviolate.
Until the police give the facts to the
public press, I must consider you my
confederates. You have heard noth-
ing, you know no one connected with
this mystery. Even I must remain
anonymous."
The gentlemen seated around him
nodded gravely.
"Of course," the baronet assented
with eagerness, "of course."
"We will refer to it," said the gen-
tleman with the black pearl, "as 'The
Story of the Naval Attache*.'"
"I arrived in London two days ago,"
said the American, "and I engaged a
room at the Bath Hotel. I know very
few people in London, and even the

26


Z JV THE FOG
members of our embassy were stran-
gers to me. But in Hong Kong I had
become great pals with an officer in
your navy, who has since retired, and
who is now living in a small house in
Rutland Gardens opposite the Knights-
bridge barracks. I telegraphed him
that I was in London, and yesterday
morning I received a most hearty invi-
tation to dine with him the same even-
ing at his house. He is a bachelor, so
we dined alone and talked over all our
old days on the Asiatic Station, and of
the changes which had come to us since
we had last met there. As I was leav-
ing the next morning for my post at
Petersburg, and had many letters to
write, I told him, about ten o'clock,
that I must get back to the hotel, and
he sent out his servant to call a
hansom.
"For the next quarter of an hour, as
we sat talking, we could hear the cab
27


II? THE FOG
whistle sounding violently from the
doorstep, but apparently with no result.
'"It cannot be that the cabmen are
on strike,' my friend said, as he rose
and walked to the window.
"He pulled back the curtains and at
once called to me.
"' You have never seen a London fog,
have you?' he asked. 'Well, come
here. This is one of the best, or,
rather, one of the worst, of them.' I
joined him at the window, but I could
see nothing. Had I not known that
the house looked out upon the street
I would have believed that I was facing
a dead wall. I raised the sash and
stretched out my head, but still I could
see nothing. Even the light of the
street lamps opposite, and in the upper
windows of the barracks, had been
smothered in the yellow mist. The
lights of the room in which I stood
28


Pn the fog
penetrated the fog only to the distance
of a few inches from my eyes.
"Below me the servant was still
sounding his whistle, but I could afford
to wait no longer, and told my friend
that I would try and find the way to
my hotel on foot. He objected, but
the letters I had to write were for the
Navy Department, and, besides, I had
always heard that to be out in a Lon-
don fog was the most wonderful expe-
rience, and I was curious to investigate
one for myself.
"My friend went with me to his front
door, and laid down a course for me to
follow. I was first to walk straight
across the street to the brick wall of the
Knightsbridge Barracks. I was then
to feel my way along the wall until I
came to a row of houses set back from
the sidewalk. They would bring me to
a cross street. On the other side of
this street was a row of shops which I
29


IN THE FOG
was to follow until they joined the iron
railings of Hyde Park. I was to keep
to the railings until I reached the gates
at Hyde Park Corner, where I was to
lay a diagonal course across Piccadilly,
and tack in toward the railings of
Green Park. At the end of these rail-
ings, going east, I would find the Wal-
singham, and my own hotel.
"To a sailor the course did not seem
difficult, so I bade my friend good-
night and walked forward until my feet
touched the paving. I continued upon
it until I reached the curbing of the
sidewalk. A few steps further, and
my hands struck the wall of the bar-
racks. I turned in the direction from
which I had just come, and saw a
square of faint light cut in the yellow
fog. I shouted 'All right,' and the
voice of my friend answered, 'Good
luck to you.' The light from his open
door disappeared with a bang, and I
30 X


IN THE FOG
was left alone in a dripping, yellow
darkness. I have been in the Navy
for ten years, but I have never known
such a fog as that of last night, not
even among the icebergs of Behring
Sea. There one at least could see the
light of the binnacle, but last night I
could not even distinguish the hand by
which I guided myself along the bar-
rack wall. At sea a fog is a natural
phenomenon. It is as familiar as the
rainbow which follows a storm, it is as
proper that a fog should spread upon
the waters as that steam shall rise from
a kettle. But a fog which springs from
the paved streets, that rolls between
solid house-fronts, that forces cabs to
move at half speed, that drowns police-
men and extinguishes the electric lights
of the music hall, that to me is incom-
prehensible. It is as out of place as a
tidal wave on Broadway.
"As I felt my way along the wall, I
X
31


IN THE FOG
encountered other men who were com-
ing from the opposite direction, and
each time when we hailed each other I
stepped away from the wall to make
room for them to pass. But the third
time I did this, when I reached out my
hand, the wall had disappeared, and
the further I moved to find it the
further I seemed to be sinking into
space. I had the unpleasant conviction
that at any moment I might step over
a precipice. Since I had set out I had
heard no traffic in the street, and now,
although I listened some minutes, I
could only distinguish the occasional
footfalls of pedestrians. Several times
I called aloud, and once a jocular gen-
tleman answered me, but only to ask
me where I thought he was, and then
even he was swallowed up in the
silence. Just above me I could make
out a jet of gas which I guessed came
from a street lamp, and I moved over
32



PE,es^
'The Princess Zichy."





IN THE FOG
to that, and, while I tried to recover
my bearings, kept my hand on the iron
post. Except for this flicker of gas, no
larger than the tip of my finger, I could
distinguish nothing about me. For the
rest, the mist hung between me and the
world like a damp and heavy blanket.
"I could hear voices, but I could not
tell from whence they came, and the
scrape of a foot moving cautiously, or
a muffled cry as some one stumbled,
were the only sounds that reached me.
"I decided that until some one took
me in tow I had best remain where I
was, and it must have been for ten min-
utes that I waited by the lamp, straining
my ears and hailing distant footfalls.
In a house near me some people were
dancing to the music of a Hungarian
band. I even fancied I could hear the
windows shake to the rhythm of their
feet, but I could not make out from
which part of the compass the sounds
* 33


IN THE FOG
came. And sometimes, as the music
rose, it seemed close at my hand, and
again, to be floating high in the air
above my head. Although I was sur-
rounded by thousands of householders,
I was as completely lost as though I had
been set down by night in the Sahara
Desert. There seemed to be no reason
in waiting longer for an escort, so I
again set out, and at once bumped
against a low iron fence. At first I be-
lieved this to be an area railing, but on
following it I found that it stretched for
a long distance, and that it was pierced
at regular intervals with gates. I was
standing uncertainly with my hand on
one of these when a square of light sud-
denly opened in the night, and in it I
saw, as you see a picture thrown by a
biograph in a darkened theatre, a young
gentleman in evening dress, and back of
him the lights of a hall. I guessed from
its elevation and distance from the side-
34



"A square of light suddenly opened in the night and
in it I saw a young gentleman in evening dress."



±


7 2V THE FOG
walk that this light must come from
the door of a house set back from the
street, and I determined to approach
it and ask the young man to tell me
where I was. But in fumbling with
the lock of the gate I instinctively bent
my head, and when I raised it again
the door had partly closed, leaving only
a narrow shaft of light. Whether the
young man had re-entered the house,
or had left it I could not tell, but I
hastened to open the gate, and as I
stepped forward I found myself upon
an asphalt walk. At the same instant
there was the sound of quick steps
upon the path, and some one rushed
past me. I called to him, but he made
no reply, and I heard the gate click and
the footsteps hurrying away upon the
sidewalk.
"Under other circumstances the
young man's rudeness, and his reckless-
ness in dashing so hurriedly through
35





IN THE FOG
walk that this light must come from
the door of a house set back from the
street, and I determined to approach
it and ask the young man to tell me
where I was. But in fumbling with
the lock of the gate I instinctively bent
my head, and when I raised it again
the door had partly closed, leaving only
a narrow shaft of light. Whether the
young man had re-entered the house,
or had left it I could not tell, but I
hastened to open the gate, and as I
stepped forward I found myself upon
an asphalt walk. At the same instant
there was the sound of quick steps
upon the path, and some one rushed
past me. I called to him, but he made
no reply, and I heard the gate click and
the footsteps hurrying away upon the
sidewalk.
"Under other circumstances the
young man's rudeness, and his reckless-
ness in dashing so hurriedly through
35


IN THE FOG
the mist, would have struck me as
peculiar, but everything was so dis-
torted by the fog that at the moment I
did not consider it. The door was still
as he had left it, partly open. I went
up the path, and, after much fumbling,
found the knob of the door-bell and
gave it a sharp pull. The bell an-
swered me from a great depth and
distance, but no movement followed
from inside the house, and although I
pulled the bell again and again I could
hear nothing save the dripping of the
mist about me. I was anxious to be
on my way, but unless I knew where
I was going there was little chance of
my making any speed, and I was deter-
mined that until I learned my bearings
I would not venture back into the fog.
So I pushed the door open and stepped
into the house.
"I found myself in a long and nar-
row hall, upon which doors opened
36


IN THE FOG
from either side. At the end of the
hall was a staircase with a balustrade
which ended in a sweeping curve. The
balustrade was covered with heavy Per-
sian rugs, and the walls of the hall were
also hung with them. The door on my
left was closed, but the one nearer me
on the right was open, and as I stepped
opposite to it I saw that it was a sort
of reception or waiting-room, and that
it was empty. The door below it was
also open, and with the idea that I
would surely find some one there, I
walked on up the hall. I was in even-
ing dress, and I felt I did not look like
a burglar, so I had no great fear that,
should I encounter one of the inmates
of the house, he would shoot me on
sight. The second door in the hall
opened into a dining-room. This was
also empty. One person had been
dining at the table, but the cloth had
not been cleared away, and a flickering
37


I IT THE FOG
candle showed half-filled wineglasses
and the ashes of cigarettes. The greater
part of the room was in complete
darkness.
"By this time I had grown conscious
of the fact that I was wandering about
in a strange house, and that, apparently,
I was alone in it. The silence of the
place began to try my nerves, and in a
sudden, unexplainable panic I started
for the open street. But as I turned, I
saw a man sitting on a bench, which
the curve of the balustrade had hidden
from me. His eyes were shut, and he
was sleeping soundly.
"The moment before I had been be-
wildered because I could see no one,
but at sight of this man I was much
more bewildered.
"He was a very large man, a giant in
height, with long yellow hair which
hung below his shoulders. He was
dressed in a red silk shirt that was
k
38


IN THE FOG
barrassed. I had thought it would be
easy enough to explain my intrusion to
a man, but how a woman would look
at it was another matter, and as I fol-
lowed him down the hall I was some-
what puzzled.
"As we advanced, he noticed that
the front door was standing open, and
with an exclamation of surprise, has-
tened toward it and closed it. Then
he rapped twice on the door of what
was apparently the drawing-room.
There was no reply to his knock, and
he tapped again, and then timidly, and
cringing subserviently, opened the door
and stepped inside. He withdrew him-
self at once and stared stupidly at me,
shaking his head.
"' She is not there,' he said. He
stood for a moment gazing blankly
through the open door, and then has-
tened toward the dining-room. The
solitary candle which still burned there

40


IN THE FOG
seemed to assure him that the room
also was empty. He came back and
bowed me toward the drawing-room.
'She is above,' he said; 'I will in-
form the Princess of the Excellency's
presence.'
"Before I could stop him he had
turned and was running up the stair-
case, leaving me alone at the open door
of the drawing-room. I decided that
the adventure had gone quite far
enough, and if I had been able to ex-
plain to the Russian that I had lost
my way in the fog, and only wanted to
get back into the street again, I would
have left the house on the instant.
"Of course, when I first rang the bell
of the house I had no other expectation
than that it would be answered by a
parlor-maid who would direct me on
my way. I certainly could not then
foresee that I would disturb a Russian
princess in her boudoir, or that I
41


IN THE FOG
might be thrown out by her athletic
bodyguard. Still, I thought I ought
not now to leave the house without
making some apology, and, if the worst
should come, I could show my card.
They could hardly believe that a mem-
ber of an Embassy had any designs
upon the hat-rack.
"The room in which I stood was
dimly lighted, but I could see that, like
the hall, it was hung with heavy Per-
sian rugs. The corners were filled
with palms, and there was the unmis-
takable odor in the air of Russian cig-
arettes, and strange, dry scents that
carried me back to the bazaars of Vladi-
vostock. Near the front windows was
a grand piano, and at the other end of
the room a heavily carved screen of
some black wood, picked out with ivory.
The screen was overhung with a canopy
of silken draperies, and formed a sort
of alcove. In front of the alcove was
42


11ST THE FOG
5W
spread the white skin of a polar bear,
and set on that was one of those low
Turkish coffee tables. It held a lighted
spirit-lamp and two gold coffee cups.
I had heard no movement from above
stairs, and it must have been fully three
minutes that I stood waiting, noting
these details of the room and wonder-
ing at the delay, and at the strange
silence.
"And then, suddenly, as my eye
grew more used to the hatf-light, I saw,
projecting from behind the screen as
though it were stretched along the back
of a divan, the hand of a man and the
lower part of his arm. I was as startled
as though I had come across a footprint
on a deserted island. Evidently the
man had been sitting there since I had
come into the room, even since I had
entered the house, and he had heard
the servant knocking upon the door.
Why he had not declared himself I
43


IN THE FOG
could not understand, but I supposed
that possibly he was a guest, with no
reason to interest himself in the Prin-
cess's other visitors, or perhaps, for
some reason, he did not wish to be ob-
served. I could see nothing of him
except his hand, but I had an unpleas-
ant feeling that he had been peering at
me through the carving in the screen,
and that he still was doing so. I
moved my feet noisily on the floor and
said tentatively, 'I beg your pardon.'
"There was no reply, and the hand
did not stir. Apparently the man was
bent upon ignoring me, but as all I
wished was to apologize for my intru-
sion and to leave the house, I walked
up to the alcove and peered around it.
Inside the screen was a divan piled
with cushions, and on the end of it
nearer me the man was sitting. He
was a young Englishman with light
yellow hair and a deeply bronzed face.
44


IN THE FOG
He was seated with his arms stretched
out along the back of the divan, and
with his head resting against a cushion.
His attitude was one of complete ease.
But his mouth had fallen open, and his
eyes were set with an expression of
utter horror. At the first glance I saw
that he was quite dead.
"For a flash of time I was too star-
tled to act, but in the same flash I was
convinced that the man had met his
death from no accident, that he had
not died through any ordinary failure
of the laws of nature. The expression
on his face was much too terrible to be
misinterpreted. It spoke as eloquently
as words. It told me that before the
end had come he had watched his death
approach and threaten him.
"I was so sure he had been murdered
that I instinctively looked on the floor
for the weapon, and, at the same mo-
ment, out of concern for my own
45


IN THE FOG
smallest blade of a pocket-knife, but
when I stripped the shirt away from
the chest and left it bare, I found that
the weapon, narrow as it was, had been
long enough to reach his heart. There
is no need to tell you how I felt as I
stood by the body of this boy, for he
was hardly older than a boy, or of the
thoughts that came into my head. I
was bitterly sorry for this stranger,
bitterly indignant at his murderer, and,
at the same time, selfishly concerned
for my own safety and for the notoriety
which I saw was sure to follow. My
instinct was to leave the body where it
lay, and to hide myself in the fog, but
I also felt that since a succession of
accidents had made me the only wit-
ness to a crime, my duty was to make
myself a good witness and to assist to
establish the facts of this murder.
"That it might possibly be a suicide,
and not a murder, did not disturb
47


IN THE FOG
me for a moment. The fact that the
weapon had disappeared, and the ex-
pression on the boy's face were enough
to convince, at least me, that he had
had no hand in his own death. I
judged it, therefore, of the first import-
ance to discover who was in the house,
or, if they had escaped from it, who
had been in the house before I entered
it. I had seen one man leave it; but
all I could tell of him was that he was
a young man, that he was in evening
dress, and that he had fled in such
baste that he had not stopped to close
the door behind him.
"The Russian servant I had found
apparently asleep, and, unless he acted
a part with supreme skill, he was a
stupid and ignorant boor, and as inno-
cent of the murder as myself. There
was still the Russian princess whom he
had expected to find, or had pretended
to expect to find, in the same room with

48


IN THE FOG
the murdered man. I judged that she
must now be either upstairs with the
servant, or that she had, without his
knowledge, already fled from the house.
When I recalled his apparently genuine
surprise at not finding her in the draw-
ing-room, this latter supposition seemed
the more probable. Nevertheless, I de-
cided that it was my duty to make a
search, and after a second hurried look
for the weapon among the cushions of
the divan, and upon the floor, I cau-
tiously crossed the hall and entered
the dining-room.
"The single candle was still flicker-
ing in the draught, and showed only
the white cloth. The rest of the room
was draped in shadows.* I picked up
the candle, and, lifting it high above
my head, moved around the corner of
the table. Either my nerves were on
such a stretch that no shock could
strain them further, or my mind was
* 49


IN THE FOG
inoculated to horrors, for I did not cry
out at what I saw nor retreat from it.
Immediately at my feet was the body
of a beautiful woman, lying at full
length upon the floor, her arms flung
out on either side of her, and her
white face and shoulders gleaming dully
in the unsteady light of the candle.
Around her throat was a great chain of
diamonds, and the light played upon
these and made them flash and blaze in
tiny flames. But the woman who wore
them was dead, and I was so certain as
to how she had died that without an
instant's hesitation I dropped on my
knees beside her and placed my hands
above her heart. My fingers again
touched the thin slit of a wound. I
had no doubt in my mind but that this
was the Russian princess, and when I
lowered the candle to her face I was
assured that this was so. Her features
showed the finest lines of both the Slav
50



■ h f
"At my feet was the body of a beautiful woman lying
at full length on the floor."


•* . • • •
* • • • •
\
%
X..


IN THE FOG
and the Jewess; the eyes were black,
the hair blue-black and wonderfully
heavy, and her skin, even in death, was
rich in color. She was a surpassingly
beautiful woman.
"I rose and tried to light another
candle with the one I held, but I found
that my hand was so unsteady that I
could not keep the wicks together. It
was my intention to again search for
this strange dagger which had been
used to kill both the English boy and
the beautiful princess, but before I
could light the second candle I heard
footsteps descending the stairs, and the
Russian servant appeared in the door-
way.
"My face was in darkness, or I am
sure that at the sight of it he would
have taken alarm, for at that moment
I was not sure but that this man him-
self was the murderer. His own face
was plainly visible to me in the light
51


IN THE FOG
"He pointed behind him toward the
drawing-room.
"' One sat there with the Princess,'
he said; 'the other came after I had
placed the coffee in the drawing-room.
The two Englishmen talked together
and the Princess returned here to the
table. She sat there in that chair, and
I brought her cognac and cigarettes.
Then I sat outside upon the bench. It
was a feast day, and I had been drink-
ing. Pardon, Excellency, but I fell
asleep. When I woke, your Excellency
was standing by me, but the Princess
and the two Englishmen had gone.
That is all I know.'
"I believed that the man was telling
me the truth. His fright had passed,
and he was now apparently puzzled,
but not alarmed.
"' You must remember the names of
the Englishmen,' I urged. 'Try to
think. When you announced them to
53


1 N THE FOG
of the African explorer of whom this
gentleman was just speaking. I mean
the Ear] of Chetney... The other was
the name of his brother, Lord Arthur
Chetney." ~~ ~
The men at the table fell back as
though a trapdoor had fallen open at
their feet.
"Lord Chetney?" they exclaimed in
chorus. They glanced at each other
and back to the American with every
expression of concern and disbelief.
"It is impossible!" cried the Baro-
net. "Why, my dear sir, young Chet-
ney only arrived from Africa yesterday.
It was so stated in the evening papers."
The jaw of the American set in a
resolute square, and he pressed his lips
together.
"Yj6/T are perfectly right, sir," he
said, " Lord Chetney did arrive inJLon-,
don yesterday morning, and yesterday
night I found his dead body."
55


IN THE FOG
The youngest member present was
the first to recover. He seemed much
less concerned over the identity of the
murdered man than at the interruption
of the narrative.
"Oh, please let him go on!" he cried.
"What happened then? You say you
found two visiting cards. How do you
know which card was that of the mur-
dered man?"
The American, before he answered,
waited until the chorus of exclamations
had ceased. Then he continued as
though he had not been interrupted.
"The instant I read the names upon
the cards," he said, "I ran to the screen
and, kneeling beside the dead man, be-
gan a search through his pockets. My
hand at once fell upon a card-case, and
I found on all the cards it contained
the title of the Earl of Chetney. His
watch and cigarette-case also bore his
name. These evidences, and the fact
56


IN TEE FOG
of his bronzed skin, and that his cheek-
bones were worn with fever, con-
vinced me that the dead man was the
African explorer, and the boy who had
fled past me in the night was Arthur,
his younger brother.
"I was so intent upon my search that
I had forgotten the servant, and I was
still on my knees when I heard a cry
behind me. I turned, and saw the man
gazing down at the body in abject
horror.
"Before I could rise, he gave another
cry of terror, and, flinging himself into
the hall, raced toward the door to the
street. I leaped after him, shouting to
him to halt, but before I could reach
the hall he had torn open the door, and
I saw him spring out into the yellow
fog. I cleared the steps in a jump and
ran down the garden walk but just as
the gate clicked in front of me. I had
it open on the instant, and, following
57


IN THE FOG
the sound of the man's footsteps, I
raced after him across the open street.
He, also, could hear me, and he instantly
stopped running, and there was absolute
silence. He was so near that I almost
fancied I could hear him panting, and
I held my own breath to listen. But
I could distinguish nothing but the
dripping of the mist about us, and from
far off the music of the Hungarian
band, which I had heard when I first
lost myself.
"All I could see was the square of
light from the door I had left open
behind me, and a lamp in the hall
beyond it flickering in the draught.
But even as I watched it, the flame of
the lamp was blown violently to and
fro, and the door, caught in the same
current of air, closed slowly. I knew
if it shut I could not again enter the
house, and I rushed madly toward it.
I believe I even shouted out, as though
68


IN THE FOG
it were something human which I could
compel to obey me, and then I caught
my foot against the curb and smashed
into the sidewalk. When I rose to my
feet I was dizzy and half stunned, and
though I thought then that I was mov-
ing toward the door, I know now that
I probably turned directly from it; for,
as I groped about in the night, calling
frantically for the police, my fingers
touched nothing but the dripping fog,
and the iron railings for which I sought
seemed to have melted away. For
many minutes I beat the mist with
my arms like one at blind man's buff,
turning sharply in circles, cursing aloud
at my stupidity and crying continually
for help. At last a voice answered me
from the fog, and I found myself held
in the circle of a policeman's lantern.
"That is the end of my adventure.
What I have to tell you now is what I
learned from the police.
59


I N THE FOG
in the fog, for up to noon to-day the
house had not been found, nor had
they been able to arrest Lord Arthur.
He did not return to his father's house
last night, and there is no trace of him;
but from what the police knew of the
past lives of the people I found in that
lost house, they have evolved a theory,
and their theory is that the murders
were committed by Lord Arthur.
"The infatuation of his elder brother,
Lord Chetney, for a Russian princess, so
Inspector Lyle tells me, is well known
to every one. About two years ago the
Princess Zichy, as she calls herself,
and he were constantly together, and
Chetney informed his friends that they
were about to be married. The woman
was notorious in two continents, and
when Lord Edam heard of his son's
infatuation he appealed to the police
for her record.
"It is through his having applied to
61


IN THE FOG
them that they know so much concern-
ing her and her relations with the
Chetneys. From the police Lord Edam
learned that Madame Zichy had once
been a spy in the employ of the Rus-
sian Third Section, but that lately she
had been repudiated by her own gov-
ernment and was living by her wits, by
blackmail, and by her beauty. Lord
Edam laid this record before his son,
but Chetney either knew it already or
the woman persuaded him not to be-
lieve in it, and the father and son
parted in great anger. Two days later
the marquis altered his will, leaving all
of his money to the younger brother,
Arthur.
"The title and some of the landed
property he could not keep from Chet-
ney, but he swore if his son saw the
woman again that the will should stand
as it was, and he would be left without
a penny.
62


IN THE FOG
"This was about eighteen months
ago, when apparently Chetney tired of
the Princess, and suddenly went off to
shoot and explore in Central Africa.
No word came from him, except that
twice he was reported as having died
of fever in the jungle, and finally two
traders reached the coast who said they
had seen his body. This was accepted
by all as conclusive, and young Arthur
was recognized as the heir to the Edam
millions. On the strength of this sup-
position he at once began to borrow
enormous sums from the money lend-
ers. This is of great importance, as
the police believe it was these debts
which drove him to the murder of his
brother. Yesterday, as you know, Lord
Chetney suddenly returned from the
grave, and it was the fact that for two
years he had been considered as dead
which lent such importance to his re-
turn and which gave rise to those col-
63


IN THE FOG

umns of detail concerning him which
appeared in all the afternoon papers.
But, obviously, during his absence he
had not tired of the Princess Zichy, for
we know that a few hours after he
reached London he sought her out.
His brother, who had also learned of
his reappearance through the papers,
probably suspected which would be the
house he would first visit, and followed
him there, arriving, so the Russian
servant tells us, while the two were at
coffee in the drawing-room. The Prin-
cess, then, we also learn from the
servant, withdrew to the dining-room,
leaving the brothers together. What
happened one can only guess.
"Lord Arthur knew now that when
it was discovered he was no longer the
heir, the money-lenders would come
down upon him. The police believe
that he at once sought out his brother
to beg for money to cover the post-
64


IN THE FOG
"There are several points in Mr.
Sears's story I want explained," he cried.
"Be seated, Sir Andrew," he begged.
"Let us have the opinion of an expert.
1 do not care what the police think, I
want to know what you think."
But Sir Henry rose reluctantly from
his chair.
"I should like nothing better than to
discuss this," he said. "But it is most
important that I proceed to the House.
I should have been there some time
ago." He turned toward the servant
and directed him to call a hansom.
The gentleman with the pearl stud
looked appealingly at the Naval At-
tached "There are surely many details
that you have not told us," he urged.
"Some you have forgotten."
The Baronet interrupted quickly.
"I trust not," he said, "for I could
not possibly stop to hear them."
"The story is finished," declared the
67


IN THE FOG
the gentleman in the black tie, "and
of the Czarina's diamonds." His tone
was one of mingled admiration and
injury.
"The Czarina's diamonds!" exclaimed
the Baronet. He glanced quickly and
suspiciously at the speaker, and then at
the others about the table. But their
faces gave evidence of no other emotion
than that of ordinary interest.
"Yes, the Czarina's diamonds," re-
peated the man with the black tie.
"It was a necklace of diamonds. I
was told to take them to the Russian
Ambassador in Paris who was to de-
liver them at Moscow. I am a Queen's
Messenger," he added.
"Oh, I see," exclaimed Sir Andrew
in a tone of relief. "And you say that
this same Princess Zichy, one of the
victims of this double murder, endeav-
ored to rob you of—of—that cigar-case."
"And the Czarina's diamonds," an-
69


IN 1 HE FOG
swered the Queen's Messenger imper-
turbably. "It's not much of a story,
but it gives you an idea of the woman's
character. The robbery took place be-
tween Paris and Marseilles."
The Baronet interrupted him with an
abrupt movement. "No, no," he cried,
shaking his head in protest. "Do not
tempt me. I really cannot listen. I
must be at the House in ten minutes."
"I am sorry," said the Queen's Mes-
senger. He turned to those seated
about him. "I wonder if the other
gentlemen—" he inquired tentatively.
There was a chorus of polite murmurs,
and the Queen's Messenger, bowing his
head in acknowledgment, took a pre-
paratory sip from his glass. At the
same moment the servant to whom the
man with the black pearl had spoken,
slipped a piece of paperjnto his hanjL
-He'gTanced at it, frowned, and threw it
under the table.

70


IN THE FOG
The servant bowed to the Baronet.
"Your hansom is waiting, Sir An-
drew," he said.
"The necklace was worth twenty-
thousand pounds," began the Queen's
Messenger. "It was a present from
the Queen of England to celebrate—"
The Baronet gave an exclamation of
angry annoyance.
"Upon my word, this is most pro-
voking," he interrupted. "I really
ought not to stay. But I certainly
mean to hear this." He turned irrita-
bly to the servant. "Tell the hansom
to wait," he commanded, and, with an
air of a boy who is playing truant,
slipped guiltily into his chair.
The gentleman with the black pearl
smiled blandly, and rapped upon the
table.
"Order, gentlemen," he said. "Order
for the story of the Queen's Messenger
and the Czarina's diamonds."
71


CHAPTER H
"' I VHE necklace was a present from
the Queen of England to the
Czarina of Russia," began the Queen's
Messenger. "It was to celebrate the
occasion of the Czar's coronation. Our
Foreign Office knew that the Russian
Ambassador in Paris was to proceed to
Moscow for that ceremony, and I was
directed to go to Paris and turn over the
necklace to him. But when I reached
Paris I found he had not expected me for
a week later and was taking a few days'
vacation at Nice. His people asked me
to leave the necklace with them at the
Embassy, but I had been charged to
get a receipt for it from the Ambassador
himself, so I started at once for Nice
The fact that Monte Carlo is not two
73


IN THE FOG
up to the time of this robbery I had
always concealed my despatches in a
manner peculiarly my own. I got the
idea from that play called 'A Scrap of
Paper.' In it a man wants to hide a
certain compromising document. He
knows that all his rooms will be se-
cretly searched for it, so he puts it in
a torn envelope and sticks it up where
any one can see it on his mantel shelf.
The result is that the woman who is
ransacking the house to find it looks in
all the unlikely places, but passes over
the scrap of paper that is just under
her nose. Sometimes the papers and
packages they give us to carry about
Europe are of very great value, and
sometimes they are special makes of
cigarettes, and orders to court dress-
makers. Sometimes we know what we
are carrying and sometimes we do not.
If it is a large sum of money or a treaty,
they generally tell us. But, as a rule,
75


IN THE FOG
we have no knowledge of what the
package contains; so, to be on the safe
side, we naturally take just as great
care of it as though we knew it held
the terms of an ultimatum or the crown
jewels. As a rule, my confreres carry
the official packages in a despatch-box,
which is just as obvious as a lady's
jewel bag in the hands of her maid.
Every one knows they are carrying
something of value. They put a pre-
mium on dishonesty. Well, after I saw
the' Scrap of Paper' play, I determined
to put the government valuables in the
most unlikely place that any one would
look for them. So I used to hide the
documents they gave me inside my rid-
ing-boots, and small articles, such as
money or jewels, I carried in an old
cigar-case. After I took to using my
case for that purpose I bought a new
one, exactly like it, for my cigars. But
to avoid mistakes, I had my initials
^
76


IN THE FOG
placed on both sides of the new one,
and the moment I touched the case,
even in the dark, I could tell which it
was by the raised initials.
"No one knew of this except the
Queen's Messenger of whom I spoke.
We once left Paris together on the
Orient Express. I was going to Con-
stantinople and he was to stop off at
Vienna. On the journey I told him of
my peculiar way of hiding things and
showed him my cigar-case. If I recollect
rightly, on that trip it held the grand
cross of St. Michael and St. George,
which the Queen was sending to our
Ambassador. The Messenger was very
much entertained at my scheme, and
some months later when he met the
Princess he told her about it as an
amusing story. Of course, he had no
idea she was a Russian spy. He didn't
know anything at all about her, except
that she was a very attractive woman.
77


IN THE FOG
but in the daytime I take whatever
offers. On this morning I had found
an empty compartment, and I had
tipped the guard to keep every one else
out, not from any fear of losing the
diamonds, but because I wanted to
smoke. He had locked the door, and
as the last bell had rung I supposed I
was to travel alone, so I began to ar-
range my traps and make myself com-
fortable. The diamonds in the cigar-
case were in the inside pocket of my
waistcoat, and as they made a bulky
package, I took them out, intending to
put them in my hand bag. It is a small
satchel like a bookmaker's, or those
hand bags that couriers carry. I wear
it slung from a strap across my shoul-
der, and, no matter whether I am sit-
ting or walking, it never leaves me.
"I took the cigar-case which held the
necklace from my inside pocket and
the case which held the cigars out of
79


IN THE FOG
the satchel, and while I was searching
through it for a box of matches I laid
the two cases beside me on the seat.
"At that moment the train started,
but at the same instant there was a
rattle at the lock of the compartment,
and a couple of porters lifted and
shoved a woman through the door, and
hurled her rugs and umbrellas in after
her.
"Instinctively I reached for the dia-
monds. I shoved them quickly into
the satchel and, pushing them far down
to the bottom of the bag, snapped the
spring lock. Then I put the cigars in
the pocket of my coat, but with the
thought that now that I had a woman
as a travelling companion I would prob-
ably not be allowed to enjoy them.
"One of her pieces of luggage had
fallen at my feet, and a roll of rugs had
landed at my side. I thought if I hid
the fact that the lady was not welcome,
80


IN THE FOG
'When my husband was stationed at
Vienna,' or 'When my husband was
promoted to Rome.' Once she said to
me, 'I have often seen you at Monte
Carlo. I saw you when you won the
pigeon championship.' I told her that
I was not a pigeon shot, and she gave a
little start of surprise. 'Oh, I beg your
pardon,' she said; 'I thought you were
Morton Hamilton, the English cham-
pion.' As a matter of fact, I do look
like Hamilton, but I know now that
her object was to make me think that
she had no idea as to who I really was.
She need n't have acted at all, for I cer-
tainly had no suspicions of her, and
was only too pleased to have so charm-
ing a companion.
"The one thing that should have
made me suspicious was the fact that
at every station she made some trivial
excuse to get me out of the compart-
ment. She pretended that her maid
83


IN THE FOG
was travelling back of us in one
of the second-class carriages, and kept
saying she could not imagine why
the woman did not come to look after
her, and if the maid did not turn up
at the next stop, would I be so very
kind as to get out and bring her
whatever it was she pretended she
wanted.
"I had taken my dressing-case from
the rack to get out a novel, and had left
it on the seat opposite to mine, and at
the end of the compartment farthest
from her. And once when I came back
from buying her a cup of chocolate, or
from some other fool errand, I found
her standing at my end of the compart-
ment with both hands on the dressing-
bag. She looked at me without so
much as winking an eye, and shoved
the case carefully into a corner. 'Your
bag slipped off on the floor,' she said.

84


IN THE FOG
1 If you Ve got any bottles in it, you
had better look and see that they're
not broken.'
"And I give you my word, I was
such an ass that I did open the case
and looked all through it. She must
have thought I was a Juggins. I get
hot all over whenever I remember it.
But in spite of my dulness, and her
cleverness, she could n't gain anything
by sending me away, because what she
wanted was in the hand bag and every
time she sent me away the hand bag
went with me.
"After the incident of the dressing-
case her manner changed. Either in
my absence she had had time to look
through it, or, when I was examining
it for broken bottles, she had seen every-
thing it held.
"From that moment she must have
been certain that the cigar-case, in
which she knew I carried the diamonds,
85


IN THE FOG
was in the bag that was fastened to my
body, and from that time on she prob-
ably was plotting how to get it from me.
"Her anxiety became most apparent.
She dropped the great lady manner,
and her charming condescension went
with it. She ceased talking, and, when
I spoke, answered me irritably, or at
random. No doubt her mind was en-
tirely occupied with her plan. The
end of our journey was drawing rapidly
nearer, and her time for action was
being cut down with the speed of the
express train. Even I, unsuspicious
as I was, noticed that something was
very wrong with her. I really believe
that before we reached Marseilles if I
had not, through my own stupidity,
given her the chance she wanted, she
might have stuck a knife in me and
rolled me out on the rails. But as it
was, I only thought that the long jour-
ney had tired her. I suggested that it
86


IN THE FOG
was a very trying trip, and asked her
if she would allow me to offer her some
of my cognac.
"She thanked me and said, 'No,' and
then suddenly her eyes lighted, and
she exclaimed, 'Yes, thank you, if you
will be so kind.'
"My flask was in the hand bag, and
I placed it on my lap and with my
thumb slipped back the catch. As I
keep my tickets and railroad guide in
the bag, I am so constantly opening it
that I never bother to lock it, and the
fact that it is strapped to me has always
been sufficient protection. But I can
appreciate now what a satisfaction, and
what a torment too, it must have been
to that woman when she saw that the
bag opened without a key.
"While we were crossing the moun-
tains I had felt rather chilly and had
been wearing a light racing coat. But
after the lamps were lighted the com-
87


IN THE FOG
partment became very hot and stuffy,
and I found the coat uncomfortable.
So I stood up, and, after first slipping
the strap of the bag over my head, I
placed the bag in the seat next me and
pulled off the racing coat. I don't
blame myself for being careless; the
bag was still within reach of my hand,
and nothing would have happened if at
that exact moment the train had not
stopped at Aries. It was the combina-
tion of my removing the bag and our
entering the station at the same instant
which gave the Princess Zichy the
chance she wanted to rob me.
"I need n't say that she was clever
enough to take it. The train ran into
the station at full speed and came to a
sudden stop. I had just thrown my
coat into the rack, and had reached
out my hand for the bag. In another
instant I would have had the strap
around my shoulder. But at that
88





IN THE FOG
moment the Princess threw open the
door of the compartment and beckoned
wildly at the people on the platform.
'Natalie!' she called, 'Natalie! here
I am. Come here! This way!' She
turned upon me in the greatest excite-
ment. 'My maid!' she cried. 'She is
looking for me. She passed the win-
dow without seeing me. Go, please,
and bring her back.' She continued
pointing out of the door and beckoning
me with her other hand. There cer-
tainly was something about that
woman's tone which made one jump.
When she was giving orders you-1 had
no chance to think of anything else.
So I rushed out on my errand of mercy,
and then rushed back again to ask what
the maid looked like.
"' In black,' she answered, rising and
blocking the door of the compartment.
1 All in black, with a bonnet!'
"The train waited three minutes at
89


IN THE FOG
"I offered to put her in a carriage, but
she said she must find Natalie, and that
she hoped we would meet again at the
hotel. So I drove off by myself, won-
dering who she was, and whether Nat-
alie was not her keeper.
"I had to wait several hours for the
train to Nice, and as I wanted to stroll
around the city I thought I had better
put the diamonds in the safe of the
hotel. As soon as I reached my room
I locked the door, placed the hand bag
on the table and opened it I felt
among the things at the top of it, but
failed to touch the cigar-case. I shoved
my hand in deeper, and stirred the
things about, but still I did not reach
it. A cold wave swept down my spine,
and a sort of emptiness came to the pit
of my stomach. Then I turned red-hot,
and the sweat sprung out all over me.
I wet my lips with my tongue, and said
to myself,' Don't be an ass. Pull your-
93


IN THE FOG
self together, pull yourself together.
Take the things out, one at a time.
It's there, of course it's there. Don't
be an ass.'
"So I put a brake on my nerves and
began very carefully to pick out the
things one by one, but after another
second I could not stand it, and I
rushed across the room and threw
out everything on the bed. But the
diamonds were not among them. I
pulled the things about and tore them
open and shuffled and rearranged and
sorted them, but it was no use. The
cigar-case was gone. I threw every-
thing in the dressing-case out on the
floor, although I knew it was useless to
look for it there. I knew that I had
put it in the bag. I sat down and tried
to think. I remembered I had put it
in the satchel at Paris just as that
woman had entered the compartment,
and I had been alone with her ever
94





IN THE FOG
asked me to calm myself, and wanted to
take notes. I told him this was no
time for taking notes, but for doing
something. He got wrathy at that, and
I demanded to be taken at once to his
Chief. The Chief, he said, was very
busy, and could not see me. So I
showed him my silver greyhound. In
eleven years I had never used it but
once before. I stated in pretty vigor-
ous language that I was a Queen's
Messenger, and that if the Chief of
Police did not see me instantly he
would lose his official head. At that
the fellow jumped off his high horse
and ran with me to his Chief, — a smart
young chap, a colonel in the army, and
a very intelligent man.
"I explained that I had been robbed
in a French railway carriage of a dia-
mond necklace belonging to the Queen
of England, which her Majesty was
sending as a present to the Czarina of

96




"I threw everything in the dressing-case out on the
floor."
i 


ri


IN TEE FOG
happy myself that I hated to have any
one else miserable, so I suggested that
this attempt to steal the Czarina's
necklace might be only the first of a
series of such attempts by an unscru-
pulous gang, and that I might still be
in danger.
"I winked at the Chief and the Chief
smiled at me, and we went to Nice
together in a saloon car with a guard
of twelve carabineers and twelve plain-
clothes men, and the Chief and I drank
champagne all the way. We marched
together up to the hotel where the Rus-
sian Ambassador was stopping, closely
surrounded by our escort of carabi-
neers, and delivered the necklace with
the most profound ceremony. The old
Ambassador was immensely impressed,
and when we hinted that already I had
been made the object of an attack by
robbers, he assured us that his Imperial
Majesty would not prove ungrateful.
103


IN TEE FOG
interesting as it is." He glanced rue-
fully at the clock and turned his eyes
quickly from it.
"Tell the driver of that hansom," he
called to the servant, "that I take him
by the hour."
"For the last three days," began
young Mr. Chudleigh, "as, you have
probably read in the daily papers, the
Marquis of Edam has been at the point
of death, and his physicians have never
left his house. Every hour he seemed
to grow weaker; but although his
bodily strength is apparently leaving
him forever, his mind has remained clear
and active. Late yesterday evening
word was received at our office that he
wished my father to come at once to
Chetney House and to bring with him
certain papers. What these papers were
is not essential; I mention them only
to explain how it was that last night I
happened to be at Lord Edam's bed-
108


IN THE FOG
side. I accompanied my father to
Chetney House, but at the time we
reached there Lord Edam was sleeping,
and his physicians refused to have him
awakened. My father urged that he
should be allowed to receive Lord
Edam's instructions concerning the
documents, but the physicians would
not disturb him, and we all gathered
in the library to wait until he should
awake of his own accord. It was about
one o'clock in the morning, while we
were still there, that Inspector Lyle
and the officers from Scotland Yard
came to arrest Lord Arthur on the
charge of murdering his brother. You
can imagine our dismay and distress.
Like every one else, I had learned from
the afternoon papers that Lord Chet-
ney was not dead, but that he had re-
turned to England, and on arriving at
Chetney House I had been told that
Lord Arthur had gone to the Bath
109


IN THE FOG
Hotel to look for his brother and to
inform him that if he wished to see
their father alive he must come to him
at once. Although it was now past
one o'clock, Arthur had not returned.
None of us knew where Madame Zichy
lived, so we could not go to recover
Lord Chetney's body. We spent a most
miserable night, hastening to the win-
dow whenever a cab came into the
square, in the hope that it was Arthur
returning, and endeavoring to explain
away the facts that pointed to him as
the murderer. I am a friend of Ar-
thur's, I was with him at Harrow and
at Oxford, and I refused to believe for
an instant that he was capable of such
a crime; but as a lawyer I could not
help but see that the circumstantial
evidence was strongly against him.
"Toward early morning Lord Edam
awoke, and in so much better a state of
health that he refused to make the
110


1 1ST THE FOG
changes in the papers which he had
intended, declaring that he was no
nearer death than ourselves. Under
other circumstances, this happy change
in him would have relieved us greatly,
but none of us could think of any-
thing save the death of his elder son
and of the charge which hung over
Arthur.
"As long as Inspector Lyle remained
in the house my father decided that I,
as one of the legal advisers of the fam-
ily, should also remain there. But
there was little for either of us to do.
Arthur did not return, and nothing oc-
curred until late this morning, when
Lyle received word that the Russian
servant had been arrested. He at once
drove to Scotland Yard to question
him. He came back to us in an hour,
and informed me that the servant had
refused to tell anything of what had
happened the night before, or of him-
111


IN THE FOG
self, or of the Princess Zichy. He
would not even give them the address
of her house.
"' He is in abject terror,' Lyle said.
'I assured him that he was not sus-
pected of the crime, but he would tell
me nothing.'
"There were no other developments
until two o'clock this afternoon, when
word was brought to us that Arthur had
been found, and that he was lying in the
accident ward of St. George's Hospital.
Lyle and I drove there together, and
found him propped up in bed with his
head bound in a bandage. He had
been brought to the hospital the night
before by the driver of a hansom that
had run over him in the fog. The cab-
horse had kicked him on the head, and
he had been carried in unconscious.
There was nothing on him to tell who
he was, and it was not until he came
to his senses this afternoon that the
112




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IN THE F O G
hospital authorities had been able to
send word to his people. Lyle at once
informed him that he was under arrest,
and with what he was charged, and
though the inspector warned him to
say nothing which might be used
against him, I, as his solicitor, in-
structed him to speak freely and to tell
us all he knew of the occurrences of
. last night. It was evident to any one
that the fact of his brother's death was
of much greater concern to him, than
that he was accused of his murder.
"' That,' Arthur said contemptuously,
'that is damned nonsense. It is mon-
strous and cruel. We parted better
friends than we have been in years. I
will tell you all that happened — not
to clear myself, but to help you to find
out the truth.' His story is as follows:
Yesterday afternoon, owing to his con-
stant attendance on his father, he did
not look at the evening papers, and it
, 113


IN THE FOG
sian servant. The man took his card
into the drawing-room, and at once his
brother ran out and welcomed him.
He was followed by the Princess Zichy,
who also received Arthur most cor-
dially.
"' You brothers will have much to
talk about,' she said. 'I am going to
the dining-room. When you have fin-
ished, let me know.'
"As soon as she had left them, Ar-
thur told his brother that their father
was not expected to outlive the night,
and that he must come to him at once.
"' This is not the moment to remem-
ber your quarrel,' Arthur said to him;
'you have come back from the dead
only in time to make your peace with
him before he dies.'
"Arthur says that at this Chetney
was greatly moved.
"'You entirely misunderstand me, Ar-
thur,' he returned. 'I did not know the
115


IK THE FOG
governor was ill, or I would have gone
to him the instant I arrived. My only
reason for not doing so was because I
thought he was still angry with me. I
shall return with you immediately, as
soon as I have said good-by to the Prin-
cess. It is a final good-by. After to-
night, I shall never see her again.'
"' Do you mean that!' Arthur cried.
"'Yes,' Chetney answered. 'When
I returned to London I had no inten-
tion of seeking her again, and I am
here only through a mistake.' He then
told Arthur that he had separated from
the Princess even before he went to
Central Africa, and that, moreover,
while at Cairo on his way south, he had
learned certain facts concerning her
life there during the previous season,
which made it impossible for him to
ever wish to see her again. Their sep-
aration was final and complete.
"' She deceived me cruelly,' he said;
116


IN THE FOG
all my former feeling for Zichy has
utterly passed away, but no one could
have dismissed the appeal she made in
that letter. So I came here, and found
her, as you have seen her, quite as
beautiful as she ever was, in very good
health, and, from the look of the house,
in no need of money.
"' I asked her what she meant by
writing me that she was dying in a
garret, and she laughed, and said she
had done so because she was afraid,
unless I thought she needed help, I
would not try to see her. That was
where we were when you arrived.
And now,' Chetney added,'I will say
good-by to her, and you had better re-
turn home. No, you can trust me, I
shall follow you at once. She has no
influence over me now, but I believe,
in spite of the way she has used me,
that she is, after her queer fashion, still
fond of me, and when she learns that
118


IN T E E F O G
this good-by is final there may be a
scene, and it is not fair to her that you
should be here. So, go home at once,
and tell the governor that I am follow-
ing you in ten minutes.'
"' That,' said Arthur, 'is the way we
parted. I never left him on more
friendly terms. I was happy to see
him alive again, I was happy to think
he had returned in time to make up
his quarrel with my father, and I was
happy that at last he was shut of that
woman. I was never better pleased
with him in my life.' He turned to
Inspector Lyle, who was sitting at the
foot of the bed taking notes of all he
told us.
"' Why in the name of common
sense,' he cried, ' should I have chosen
that moment of all others to send my
brother back to the grave?' For a mo-
ment the Inspector did not answer him.
I do not know if any of you gentlemen
119


IN THE FOG
said, 'your Lordship has been collect-
ing money on post orbits. Lord Chet-
ney's arrival last night turned them
into waste paper. You were suddenly
in debt for thousands of pounds — for
much more than you could ever possibly
pay. No one knew that you and your
brother had met at Madame Zichy's.
But you knew that your father was not
expected to outlive the night, and that
if your brother were dead also, you
would be saved from complete ruin,
and that you would become the Mar-
quis of Edam.'
"' Oh, that is how you have worked
it out, is it?' Arthur cried. 'And for
me to become Lord Edam was it neces-
sary that the woman should die, too?'
"' They will say,' Lyle answered,
'that she was a witness to the murder
— that she would have told.'
"' Then why did I not kill the ser-
vant as well?' Arthur said.
121


IN THE FOG
and drove at once to the address he
had given us. We found the house not
three minutes' walk from St. George's
Hospital. It stands in Trevor Terrace,
that little row of houses set back from
Knightsbridge, with one end in Hill
Street.
"As we left the hospital Lyle had
said to me, 'You must not blame
me for treating him as I did. All is
fair in this work, and if by angering
that boy I could have made him com-
mit himself I was right in trying to do
so; though, I assure you, no one would
be better pleased than myself if I could
prove his theory to be correct. But we
cannot tell. Everything depends upon
what we see for ourselves within the
next few minutes.'
"When we reached the house, Lyle
broke open the fastenings of one of the
windows on the ground floor, and,
hidden by the trees in the garden, we

124


IN THE FOG
scrambled in. We found ourselves in
the reception-room, which was the first
room on the right of the hall. The gas
was still burning behind the colored
glass and red silk shades, and when the
daylight streamed in after us it gave
the hall a hideously dissipated look,
like the foyer of a theatre at a matinee,
or the entrance to an all-day gambling
hell. The house was oppressively si-
lent, and because we knew why it was
so silent we spoke in whispers. When
Lyle turned the handle of the drawing-
room door, I felt as though some one
had put his hand upon my throat.
But I followed close at his shoulder,
and saw, in the subdued light of many-
tinted lamps, the body of Chetney at
the foot of the divan, just as Lieutenant
Sears had described it. In the draw-
ing-room we found the body of the
Princess Zichy, her arms thrown out,
and the blood from her heart frozen in
125


IN THE FOG
sian police confess to equal ignorance
concerning him. When Lord Chetney
went to Africa, Madame Zichy lived in
St. Petersburg; but there her recep-
tions and dinners were so crowded
with members of the nobility and of
the army and diplomats, that among so
many visitors the police could not learn
which was the one for whom she most
greatly cared.'
"Lyle pointed at the modern French
paintings and the heavy silk rugs which
hung upon the walls.
"' The unknown is a man of taste and
of some fortune,' he said, 'not the sort
of man to send a stupid peasant to
guard the woman he loves. So I am
not content to believe, with Mr. Sears,
that the servant is a boor. I believe
him instead to be a very clever ruffian.
I believe him to be the protector of his
master's honor, or, let us say, of his mas-
ter's property, whether that property
130


IN THE FOG
her, suppose his former infatuation for
her returned, and that in a moment of
weakness he forgave her and took her
in his arms. That is the moment the
Russian master has feared. It is to
guard against it that he has placed his
watchdog over the Princess, and how
do we know but that, when the mo-
ment came, the watchdog served his
master, as he saw his duty, and killed
them both? What do you think?'
Lyle demanded. 'Would not that ex-
plain both murders?'
"I was only too willing to hear any
theory which pointed to any one else
as the criminal than Arthur, but Lyle's
explanation was too utterly fantastic.
I told him that he certainly showed
imagination, but that he could not
hang a man for what he imagined he
had done.
"' No,' Lyle answered, 'but I can
frighten him by telling him what I

132


IN THE FOG
think he has done, and now when I
again question the Russian servant
I will make it quite clear to him that I
believe he is the murderer. I think
that will open his mouth. A man will
at least talk to defend himself. Come,'
he said, 'we must return at once to
Scotland Yard and see him. There is
nothing more to do here.'
"He arose, and I followed him into
the hall, and in another minute we
would have been on our way to Scot-
land Yard. But just as he opened the
street door a postman halted at the
gate of the garden, and began fumbling
with the latch.
"Lyle stopped, with an exclamation
of chagrin.
"' How stupid of me!' he exclaimed.
He turned quickly and pointed to a
narrow slit cut in the brass plate of the
front door. 'The house has a private
letter-box,' he said, 'and I had not
133


IN TEE FOG
thought to look in it! If we had gone
out as we came in, by the window, I
would never have seen it. The mo-
ment I entered the house I should have
thought of securing the letters which
came this morning. I have been grossly
careless.' He stepped back into the
hall and pulled at the lid of the letter-
box, which hung on the inside of the
door, but it was tightly locked. At the
same moment the postman came up
the steps holding a letter. Without a
word Lyle took it from his hand and
began to examine it. It was addressed
to the Princess Zichy, and on the back
of the envelope was the name of a
West End dressmaker.
"'That is of no use to me,' Lyle
said. He took out his card and showed
it to the postman. 'I am Inspector
Lyle from Scotland Yard,' he said.
'The people in this house are under
arrest. Everything it contains is now
134


IN THE FOG
in my keeping. Did you deliver any
other letters here this morning?'
"The man looked frightened, but
answered promptly that he was now
upon his third round. He had made
one postal delivery at seven that morn-
ing and another at eleven.
"' How many letters did you leave
here?' Lyle asked.
"'About six altogether,' the man
answered.
"' Did you put them through the
door into the letter-box?'
"The postman said, 'Yes, I always
slip them into the box, and ring and go
away. The servants collect them from
the inside.'
"' Have you noticed if any of the
letters you leave here bear a Russian
postage stamp?' Lyle asked.
"The man answered, 'Oh, yes, sir,
a great many.'
"' From the same person, would you
say?'
135


IN THE FOG
"' The writing seems to be the same,'
the man answered. 'They come reg-
ularly about once a week — one of
those I delivered this morning had a
Russian postmark.'
"' That will do,' said Lyle eagerly.
'Thank you, thank you very much.'
"He ran back into the hall, and,
pulling out his penknife, began to pick
at the lock of the letter-box.
"'I have been supremely careless,'
he said in great excitement. 'Twice
before when people I wanted had flown
from a house I have been able to fol-
low them by putting a guard over their
mail-box. These letters, which arrive
regularly every week from Russia in
the same handwriting, they can come
but from one person. At least, we shall
now know the name of the master of
this house. Undoubtedly it is one of
his letters that the man placed here
this morning. We may make a most
important discovery.'
136


IN THE FOG
"As lie was talking he was picking
at the lock with his knife, but he was
so impatient to reach the letters that
he pressed too heavily on the blade and
it broke in his hand. I took a step
backward and drove my heel into the
lock, and burst it open. The lid flew
back, and we pressed forward, and
each ran his hand down into the letter-
box. For a moment we were both too
startled to move. The box was empty.
"I do not know how long we stood
staring stupidly at each other, but it
was Lyle who was the first to recover.
He seized me by the arm and pointed
excitedly into the empty box.
"' Do you appreciate what that
means?' he cried. 'It means that
some one has been here ahead of us.
Some one has entered this house not
three hours before we came, since
eleven o'clock this morning.'
'"It was the Russian servant! ' I ex-
claimed.
137


11ST THE FOG
some things, but I have searched this
house thoroughly. Nevertheless,' he
added, 'we must go over it again, from
the cellar to the roof. We have the
real clew now, and we must forget the
others and work duly it.' As he spoke
he began again to search the drawing-
room, turning over even the books on
the tables and the music on the piano.
"' Whoever the man is,' he said over
his shoulder, 'we know that he has
a key to the front door and a key to
the letter-box. That shows us he is
either an inmate of the house or that
he comes here when he wishes. The
Russian says that he was the only ser-
vant in the house. Certainly we have
found no evidence, to show that any
other servant slept here. There could
be but one other person who would
possess a key to the house and the
letter-box — and he lives in St. Peters-
burg. At the time of the murder he
139


IN THE FOG
was two thousand miles away.' Lyle
interrupted himself suddenly with a
sharp cry and turned upon me with his
eyes flashing. 'But was he?' he cried.
'Was he? How do we^now that last
night he was not in London, in this
very house when Zichy and Chetney
met?'
"He stood staring at me without see-
ing me, muttering, and arguing with
himself.
"' Don't speak to me,' he cried, as I
ventured to interrupt him. 'I can see
it now. It is all plain. It was not the
servant, but his master, the Russian
himself, and it was he who came back
for the letters! He came back for
them because he knew they would con-
vict him. We must find them. We
must have those letters. If we find
the one with the Russian postmark, we
shall have found the murderer.' He
spoke like a madman, and as he spoke
140


IN THE FOG
he ran around the room with one hand
held out in front of him as you have
seen a mind-reader at a theatre seeking
for something hidden in the stalls. He
pulled the old letters from the writing-
desk, and ran them over as swiftly as a
gambler deals out cards; he dropped
on his knees before the fireplace and
dragged out the dead coals with his
bare fingers, and then with a low, wor-
ried cry, like a hound on a scent, he
ran back to the waste-paper basket and,
lifting the papers from it, shook them
out upon the floor. Instantly he gave
a shout of triumph, and, separating a
number of torn pieces from the others,
held them up before me.
"'Look!' he cried. 'Do you see?
Here are five letters, torn across in two
places. The Russian did not stop to
read them, for, as you see, he has left
them still sealed. I have been wrong.
He did not return for the letters. He
141


IN THE FOG
could not have known their value. He
must have returned for some other
reason, and, as he was leaving, saw
the letter-box, and taking out the let-
ters, held them together — so — and
tore them twice across, and then, as
the fire had gone out, tossed them into
this basket. Look!' he cried, 'here in
the upper corner of this piece is a
Russian stamp. This is his own letter
—unopened!'
"We examined the Russian stamp
and found it had been cancelled in St.
Petersburg four days ago. The back
of the envelope bore the postmark of
the branch station in upper Sloane
Street, and was dated this morning.
The envelope was of official blue papp-
and we had no difficulty in finding*
two other parts of it. We drewrl' ^
torn pieces of the letter from them
and joined them together side by p
There were but two lines of writi
X
142





IN THE FOG
and this was the message: 'I leave
Petersburg on the night train, and I
shall see you at Trevor Terrace after
dinner Monday evening.'
"' That was last night!' Lyle cried.
'He arrived twelve hours ahead of his
letter—but it came in time — it came
in time to hang him!'"
The Baronet struck the table with
his hand.
"The name!" he demanded. "How
was it signed? What was the man's
name?"
The young Solicitor rose to his feet
and, leaning forward, stretched out his
arm. "There was no name," he cried.
"The letter was signed with only two
initials. But engraved at the top of
sheet was the man's address. That
^ss was 'The Ameeican Embassy,
St. Petersbukg, Bureau of the Naval
* vche,' and the initials," he shouted,
voice rising into an exultant and
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IN THE FOG
bitter cry, " were those of the gentle-
man who sits opposite who told us that
he was the first to find the murdered
bodies, the Naval Attache" to Russia,
Lieutenant Sears!"
A strained and awful hush followed
the Solicitor's words, which seemed to
vibrate like a twanging bowstring that
had just hurled its bolt. Sir Andrew,
pale and staring, drew away with an
exclamation of repulsion. His eyes
were fastened upon the Naval Attache"
with fascinated horror. But the Amer-
ican emitted a sigh of great content,
and sank comfortably into the arms
of his chair. He clapped his hands
softly together.
"Capital!" he murmured. "I give
you my word I never guessed what you
were driving at. You fooled me, I'll
be hanged if you did n't — you certainly
fooled me."
The man with the pearl stud leaned
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IN THE FOG
forward with a nervous gesture.
"Hush! be careful!" he whispered.
But at that instant, for the third time,
a servant, hastening through the room,
handed him a piece of paper which he
scanned eagerly. The message on the
paper read, " The light over the Com-
mons is out. The House has risen."
The man with the black pearl gave a
mighty shout, and tossed the paper
from him upon the table.
"Hurrah!" he cried. "The House
is up! We 'ye won!'' He caught up
his glass, and slapped the Naval At-
tache violently upon the shoulder. He
nodded joyously at him, at the So-
licitor, and at the Queen's Messenger.
"Gentlemen, to you! " he cried; "my
thanks and my congratulations!" He
drank deep from the glass, and
breathed forth a long sigh of satisfac-
tion and relief.
"But I say," protested the Queen's
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IN THE FOG
Messenger, shaking his finger violently
at the Solicitor, "that story won't do.
You did n't play fair — and — and you
talked so fast 1 could n't make out what
it was all about. I 'U bet you that
evidence wouldn't hold in a court of
law — you could n't hang a cat on such
evidence. Your story is condemned
tommy-rot. Now my story might have
happened, my story bore the mark —"
In the joy of creation the story-tellers
had forgotten their audience, until a
sudden exclamation from Sir Andrew
caused them to turn guiltily toward
him. His face was knit with lines of
anger, doubt, and amazement.
"What does this mean? " he cried.
"Is this a jest, or are you mad? If
you know this man is a murderer, why
is he at large? Is this a game you
have been playing? Explain your-
selves at once. What does it mean?"
The American, with first a glance

146


IN THE FOG
at the others, rose and bowed cour-
teously.
"I am not a murderer, Sir Andrew,
believe me," he said; "you need not be
alarmed. As a matter of fact, at this
moment I am much more afraid of you
than you could possibly be of me. I
beg you please to be indulgent. I as-
sure you, we meant no disrespect. We
have been matching stories, that is all,
pretending that we are people we are
not, endeavoring to entertain you with
better detective tales than, for instance,
the last one you read,' The Great Rand
Bobbery.'"
The Baronet brushed his hand ner-
vously across his forehead.
"Do you mean to tell me," he ex-
claimed, "that none of this has hap-
pened? That Lord Chetney is not dead,
that his Solicitor did not find a letter of
yours written from your post in Peters-
burg, and that just now, when he charged
you with murder, he was in jest?"
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IN THE FOG
"I am really very sorry," said the
American, " but you see, sir, he could
not have found a letter written by me
in St. Petersburg because I have never
been in Petersburg. Until this week,
I have never been outside of my own
country. I am not a naval officer. I
am a writer of short stories. And to-
night, when this gentleman told me
that you were fond of detective stories,
I thought it would be amusing to tell
you one of my own — one I had just
mapped out this afternoon."
"But Lord Chetney is a real person,"
interrupted the Baronet, "and he did
go to Africa two years ago, and he was
supposed to have died there, and his
brother, Lord Arthur, has been the
heir. And yesterday Chetney did re-
turn. I read it in the papers."
"So did I," assented the American
soothingly; "and it struck me as being
a very good plot for a story. I mean
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IN THE FOG
his unexpected return from the dead,
and the probable disappointment of the
younger brother. So I decided that the
younger brother had better murder the
older one. The Princess Zichy I in-
vented out of a clear sky. The fog
I did not have to invent. Since last
night I know all that there is to know
about a London fog. I was lost in one
for three hours."
The Baronet turned grimly upon the
Queen's Messenger.
"But this gentleman," he protested,
"he is not a writer of short stories; he
is a member of the Foreign Office. I
have often seen him in Whitehall, and,
according to him, the Princess Zichy is
not an invention. He says she is very
well known, that she tried to rob him."
The servant of the Foreign Office
looked unhappily at the Cabinet Minis-
ter, and puffed nervously on his cigar.
"It's true, Sir Andrew, that I am a
149


IN THE FOG
Queen's Messenger," he said appeal-
ingly, " and a Russian woman once did
try to rob a Queen's Messenger in a rail-
way carriage — only it did not happen
to me, but to a pal of mine. The only
Russian princess I ever knew called
herself Zabrisky. You may have seen
her. She used to do a dive from the
roof of the Aquarium."
Sir Andrew, with a snort of indigna-
tion, fronted the young Solicitor.
"And I suppose yours was a cock-
and-bull story, too," he said. "Of
course, it must have been, since Lord
Chetney is not dead. But don't tell
me," he protested, "that you are not
Chudleigh's son either."
"I'm sorry," said the youngest
member, smiling in some embarrass-
ment, " but my name is not Chudleigh.
I assure you, though, that I know the
family very well, and that I am on very
good terms with them."

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IN THE FOG
soon as the light over the House of
Commons had ceased to burn. The
light is now out, and the object for
which we plotted is attained."
The Baronet glanced keenly at the
man with the black pearl, and then
quickly at his watch. The smile dis-
appeared from his lips, and his face
was set in stern and forbidding lines.
"And may I know," he asked icily,
"what was the object of your plot?"
"A most worthy one," the other re-
torted. "Our object was to keep you
from advocating the expenditure of
many millions of the people's money
upon more battleships. In a word, we
have been working together to prevent
you from passing the Navy Increase
Bill."
Sir Andrew's face bloomed with bril-
liant color. His body shook with sup-
pressed emotion.
"My dear sir!" he cried, "you

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IN THE FOG
should spend more time at the House
and less at your Club. The Navy Bill
was brought up on its third reading at
eight o'clock this evening. I spoke for
three hours in its favor. My only
reason for wishing to return again to
the House to-night was to sup on the
terrace with my old friend, Admiral
Simons; for my work at the House
was completed five hours ago, when
the Navy Increase Bill was passed by
an overwhelming majority."
The Baronet rose and bowed. "I
have to thank you, sir," he said, " for a
most interesting evening."
The American shoved the wine-card
which Joseph had given him toward
the gentleman with the black pearl.
"You sign it," he said.
THE END.
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