“Very good. Now, Mr. Topham, permit me to ask whether your mention of Mr. Rutile just now was purely accidental or whether you had any information that I wanted you to take a confidential message to him.”
Topham laughed. “Do you really?” he asked. “No! Mr. Secretary! I had no idea or information to that effect. It was altogether a coincidence, I assure you.”
“Ah! I was beginning to wonder if there was a leak in my office. Well! Mr. Topham, I wish you would take this packet and deliver it with your own hands in private to Mr. Rutile. You must not let even the ambassador know that you are carrying documents of any kind. No one is to know, except Mr. Rutile and yourself. You understand?”
“Surely, sir.”
“Very good. Can you leave for New York tonight?”
“Certainly, sir.”
“Please do so! I am sorry to curtail your stay in Washington, but there is no time to lose. Your passage has been taken on the steamer Marlatic, which leaves for Hamburg tomorrow morning. Make all the speed you can to Brindisi, remembering, however, that it is better to lose a day or two than by any undue haste to cast doubt on the credibility of your visit to Berlin. The Nevada will wait for you, though she is badly needed at Manila.”
“I understand, sir!”
The secretary cleared his throat. “You will understand, Mr. Topham,” he went on, “that I do not make a messenger out of you without good cause. It is very important that these documents should reach Mr. Rutile promptly and secretly. Probably you will make the trip without the least misadventure. Remember, however, that there are people who would be exceedingly anxious to get a look at these papers if they should learn of their existence. I cannot warn you of them specifically, because I do not know who they are. We have tried to keep secret the fact that any papers are being sent, and this is one reason for choosing you. I think we have succeeded, but one can never tell. If the fact has gotten out attempts may be made to take the papers from you either by fraud or violence. I do not know how far the people who want them would go in their efforts to rob you, but it is quite possible that they might go to the limit. Be warned, therefore, and be prepared to frustrate any attempt of any sort whatever. You understand, Mr. Topham?”
Topham stood up. “I think so, sir,” he replied.