“There will be none,” I said, “if you give up. We have three heads here, and we know our danger. You mean to fight for your life, eh, Herr Szalay?”
Szalay tried to smile, but could only achieve a ghastly grimace. “I am not yet tired of my life, and am ready to make an effort.”
“Good!” I returned. “Now for our plans. We must hoodwink this autocratic butcher. Send for a doctor; the most stupid in the place, for choice. Who answers to that description?”
Von Lindheim thought a moment. “Doctor Rothmer, I should think, eh, Szalay? The man who killed the Reichsrath Lorenz by treating him for indigestion when he had peritonitis.”
“A pompous idiot, eh? Just the man. Send for him at once, and turn into bed. Recollect you are poisoned; but don’t tell the doctor that. All you know is that you have been supping abroad and are horribly ill.”
I rang, and told Pabst to send for the doctor.
“And I? What am I to do?” Szalay inquired with almost ludicrous concern. “I am not poisoned.”
“No. You have simply got to keep quiet and not be seen. Your second is taken suddenly ill and cannot act for you. I may be able to avert the meeting; at any rate to delay it. Anyhow, we must work to throw our enemies off their guard. That’s the vague plan I have at present.”
Szalay brightened. My taking things so coolly seemed to give him confidence. The whole business was an eye-opener certainly; and after what I had seen there was no room for doubt that the Chancellor and his people meant business. However, funk and flurry would do no good. I, being somewhat involved in the affair, was prepared to see it through, and take my chance of trying any of the pleasant little ways the authorities seemed to have for disposing of awkward onlookers. Whether I had let these men in for the trouble or not I was resolved to get them out, and I thought I could do it.