“Good-bye, Mrs. Denver. You’ll like New York, and we shall have times together. Better than Siberia. Good-bye, Harper. Thanks for that chance in the prison. Glad now I got out so soon. This cable’s urgent. Good-bye and good luck,” and he was gone.
“American methods are a little breathless, Harper,” said Helga, with a laugh. “Do you all cut knots as easily?”
“He’s cut this one anyway,” and then we discussed how I should proceed. We decided to act just as though we were really going away, and to make a show of preparing for the journey. And at Helga’s suggestion we put up a little scheme of our own to frustrate any plan which the Prince might have formed.
Helga was to go to see after her own matters and we decided not to meet until an hour before the time Prince Kalkov had appointed to call. Then we were to lunch in our own rooms and not leave them until he arrived.
The reason for this was of course that his spies might be able to trace our movements very easily, and lead the Prince to believe that what he sought would be found with us in the hotel.
I was to call first at the Foreign Embassy to arrange matters there; then to see Marvyn, and on leaving him to drive round to various stores to purchase what I needed for the journey, and to do everything as though I had not a suspicion of treachery.
I was on the point of starting when it occurred to me that Marvyn might prove very reluctant to adopt Siegel’s suggestion. In his official capacity he might be placed in a very awkward and embarrassing position, and would very probably shrink from having any more official dealings with documents about which these representations had been made.
I had no desire to get him into trouble and I therefore resolved to mislead him. Accordingly I made up a dummy set of papers closely resembling those I had left with him, and I took them with me in readiness.
It turned out to be a very fortunate precaution.
Before anything was said on the subject I opened my fire.