"I possess secret knowledge."

"Of a plot against him?"

"He was fully aware of it himself. That is why he lived in England,"

the Minister replied.

"But, surely, if he knew this, he might have taken steps for his self-protection!" Rolfe exclaimed. "The fact that his furniture was spirited away to some unknown place makes it almost appear as though he was in accord with the conspirators."

"No; I think not. The conspirators removed his furniture in order to prevent undue inquiries as to the Doctor's disappearance. The emptying of the house may have been one to make it appear to the police that the Doctor had suddenly removed--perhaps to avoid his creditors."

Rolfe shook his head. His opinion hardly coincided with that of the British diplomat. Besides, Max Barclay's story of having seen a man there closely resembling him wanted explanation. With what motive had an unknown man represented him on the night in question?

"Maud Petrovitch has never written to you?" asked Harrison.

"Not a line."

The Minister pursed his lips.

"Well," he said, "I'm perfectly sure if she's been in Belgrade she would certainly have come to see us. My wife used to have frequent letters from her in London."

"I have not told Lady Harrison the reason of my inquiry--or any of the facts," Rolfe said. "I thought I would leave it to you to tell her if you think proper. Up to the present, the Doctor's disappearance has been kept secret between my friend Max Barclay, who was the Doctor's most intimate chum in London, and myself."

"At present I shall not tell my wife," declared the diplomat. He was a man of secrets, and knew how to keep one. "Who is Max Barclay?" asked the Minister, after a pause. Rolfe explained, but said nothing regarding his engagement to his sister Marion. To it all Sir Charles listened attentively, without comment.

At last, after a long silence, he said:

"Well, look here, Rolfe. A sudden thought has occurred to me. I think it possible that to-morrow, in a certain quarter, I shall be able to make a confidential inquiry regarding the whereabouts of the Doctor.

All that you've told me interests me exceedingly, because I have all along believed that very shortly Petrovitch was returning to power and join forces with Pas.h.i.tch."

"But didn't they quarrel a short time ago?" Rolfe remarked.

"Oh, a mere trifle. It was nothing. The Austrian press made a great stir about it, as they always do. All news from Servia emanates from the factory across the river yonder, at Semlin. If the journalists dared to put foot on, Servian soil they'd soon find themselves under arrest, I can tell you. No, the broad lines of policy of both Petrovitch and Pas.h.i.tch are identical. They intend to develop the country by the introduction of foreign capital. The king himself told me so at an audience I had a month ago. He then told me, in confidence, that he had invited the Doctor to return and rejoin the Ministry. That is why I firmly believe that the poor Doctor, one of the best and most straightforward statesmen in Europe, has fallen a victim to his enemies."

"Then you will set to work to discover what is known among the Opposition?" urged the young man.

"I promise you I will. But, of course, in strictest confidence," was the Minister's reply. "Petrovitch is my friend, as well as yours. I know only too well of the bitter enmity towards him in some quarters, especially among the partisans of the late king and a certain section of the Opposition in the Skuptchina. Mention of his name there causes cheers from the Government benches, but howls from the enemies of law and order. There was, some three years ago, a dastardly plot against his life, as you know."

"No, I don't know it. I have never heard about it," was Rolfe's reply.

"Ah! he never speaks about it, of course," Sir Charles said, reflectively. "While driving out at Topschieder with his little orphan niece, of whom he was very fond, a bomb was thrown at the carriage. The poor child was blown to atoms, the horses were maimed, the carriage smashed to matchwood, and the coachman so injure that he died within an hour. The Doctor alone escaped with nothing more serious than a cut across the cheek. But that terrible death of his dead sister's child was a terrible blow to him, and he has not been since in Belgrade.

Because of that, I expect, he has hesitated to obey the king's command to return to office."

"Awful! I never knew of that. Maud has never told me," said Rolfe.

"What blackguards to kill an innocent child! Was the man who threw the bomb caught?"

"Yes. And the conspiracy was revealed by me activity of the secret police. They made a report to the Minister of Justice, who showed it to me in confidence."

"Then you actually know who threw the explosive?"

"I know also who was responsible for the dastardly conspiracy--who aided and abetted it, and who furnished the a.s.sa.s.sins with money and promised a big reward if they encompa.s.sed the Doctor's death!" said the Minister, slowly and seriously.

"You do! Who?" cried Rolfe.

"It was someone well-known to you," was his reply. "The inquiries made by the Servian secret police led them far afield from Belgrade. They traced the conspiracy to its source--a source which would amaze you, as it would stagger the world. And if I am not much mistaken, Rolfe, this second plot has been formed and carried out by the same person whose first plot failed!"

"A person I know?" gasped the young man.

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

THE GATEWAY OF THE EAST.

The diplomat would say nothing more. When pressed by Charlie Rolfe he said that it was a surmise. Until the truth was proved he refused to speak more plainly.

"You declare that the plot by which an innocent child died was formed by a friend of mine!" the younger man exclaimed.

"I tell you that such is my firm belief," Sir Charles repeated.

"To-morrow I will endeavour to discover whether the same influence that caused the explosion of the bomb at Topschieder is responsible for the Doctor's disappearance."

"But cannot you be more explicit?" asked Rolfe. "Who is the a.s.sa.s.sin-- the murderer of children?"

"At present I can say no more than what I have already told you," was the diplomat's grave response.

"You believe that the same motive has led to the Doctor's disappearance as was the cause of the bomb outrage at Topschieder?"

"I do."

"Then much depends upon the Doctor's death?"

"Very much. His enemies would reap a large profit."

"His enemies in the Skuptchina, you mean?"

"Those--and others."

"He had private enemies also--secret ones that were even more dangerous than the blatant political orators."

"Then private vengeance was the cause?"

"No--not exactly; at least, I think not," Sir Charles replied. "But please ask no more. I will tell you the truth when I have established it."

"I wish I could discover where Maud is. Surely it is strange that the Prime Minister's wife should have said she met her lately here, in Belgrade."

"Maud Petrovitch is not in Servia. I am certain of that point."

"Why?"

"Because her father would never allow her to return here after that tragedy at Topschieder."

"The a.s.sa.s.sin--the man who threw the bomb. Where is he?"