CHAPTER XXV.
THE HOLLOW BEDPOST.
It was twelve o’clock when Nick Carter entered the cabinet of the ambassador; it was past four in the morning when he went out of it, and even then he did not leave the embassy itself, but was conducted to a room by his host where he said he would take about three hours’ sleep.
The particulars of the conversation between them we need not give here. The facts of the case, so far as they concern the relation of this story, have been already given; but of one thing be assured: Nick Carter had his way in regard to the detailed confidence of the matters, and before parting with the ambassador he was in possession of all the secret.
The thing was a stupendous undertaking on the part of Russia, and had it been permitted to succeed, would have altered the map of the world to a considerable extent.
But the point of the case was this:
Important papers of vital interest to the Russian government—and of still more vital interest to the ambassador himself, so far as his reputation was concerned—had been mysteriously taken from the place where he had concealed them.
He did not believe that they would prove of any immediate value to that government which he disguised under the name of Siamese, because, as he assured the detective, it would be impossible to read even the half that had been stolen without the presence of the remaining half, which was still in his possession.
One word as to how the papers had been hidden away by the ambassador.
In the first place it must be understood that all the writing was upon exceedingly thin paper, such as is used by diplomatic agents the world over, because it has so little bulk that much of it can be put away within a very small space.