CHAPTER XXIV.

THE AMBASSADOR’S CABINET.

Nick Carter was seated in the private cabinet at the embassy, facing the ambassador.

He had just been conducted to that room, and the ambassador, a tall, stately gentleman of the inscrutable school, every inch the representative of his czar, was still standing beside his desk, with one hand resting upon it, while he bent a little forward toward the detective, devouring him with his piercing eyes.

And they were eyes which had been accustomed for years to read the characters of men of all nationalities, and of every walk in life.

Nick Carter felt at once that this tall gentleman was a power within himself, and that nothing short of an explosion of dynamite at his feet could move him out of his habitual calm.

“I have heard very satisfactory things about you, Mr. Carter, if you will pardon me for using that expression,” the ambassador said slowly, picking his words, and still keeping his keen eyes upon the detective, while he retained that same attitude beside the desk. “I will not hesitate to say that the statements were made by no less a person than the present incumbent of the White House.”

“Indeed?” replied the detective. “That is gratifying.”

“Do not misunderstand me, Mr. Carter. He was not aware that I needed the services of a gentleman of your qualifications. Nobody has been made aware of that, save the man who went to New York to induce you to come here—and myself.”

The detective bowed his head. He made no other reply.

“I suppose you are more or less well known in Washington?” the ambassador asked; and he passed around the desk to his chair.

“I suppose so.”

“I apprehended that your personality is, also, more or less well known; and by that I refer also to your profession?”

“I suppose so,” Nick replied again.

“That is why I made the appointment with you for this hour—midnight. I desired that as few persons as possible should know of your visit to this house.”

“In that case, prince,” replied the detective, smiling, “you should have made the appointment at noonday, instead of at midnight. One is less noticeable, if one arrives among others, than if one goes by oneself to a place of appointment. The best place to hold a secret conference is in the midst of a crowd; at least that has been my experience.”

The prince—for he was one, although his title was rarely used in Washington—shrugged his shoulders.

“After all,” he said, “the matter of the secrecy of your present employment is one that is entirely your own affair. I assume that if you are competent to take this matter in hand for me you are also perfectly capable of guarding the minor details connected with it.”

“I think so.”

“This city at the present time is filled with secret agents of another government than mine or yours—and those secret agents have been chiefly interested in watching me for a long time. I have no doubt that your presence here at the embassy is already known to them.”

“More than likely it is.”

“Nevertheless, Mr. Carter, it might be inferred that you have come here to see me on matters entirely your own; or at least not mine. It is quite as logical that you should represent one government as another.”

“Yes; or none at all, prince.”

“True.”

“Before we go into the particulars of my visit here, prince, I would like you to tell me the name of that government whose spies swarm in the city at the present time.”

“Oh, I shall not permit you to work in the dark, Mr. Carter. I have had no such intention, for that would thwart the very purpose of your employment.”

The ambassador bent forward, selected a piece of paper and a pencil, wrote something on the paper, passed it over to the detective, and said:

“That is the name of the government whose spies are chiefly interested in the subject which we will presently discuss, Mr. Carter; but, if you please, we will not mention it to each other, even in a whisper or by so much as an innuendo.”

“Certainly not.”

“Walls have ears, you know; and sometimes eyes as well.”

“I know. While I was talking with Colonel Turnieff, he had occasion to draw a simile, and he made use of the name of Siam. Suppose in referring to this country, the name of which you have written down here, we call it Siam.”

“Good! A capital idea.”

“And now, sir, I return this paper to you in order that you may destroy it yourself.”

“Mr. Carter, I like your methods.”

“Thank you. Now, prince, if you will get down to business——”

“At once. But first, how much did Turnieff tell you, and what conclusions did you draw from his manner of telling it?”

“Prince, so far as the information which you will tell me is concerned, he has told me nothing; and his manner made no impression upon me one way or another.”

The ambassador smiled.

“You should have gone into the diplomatic service, Mr. Carter,” he said.

“I seem to be in it now, prince,” was the reply.

“True. But I perceive that you prefer not to commit yourself to any opinion until you have formed a positive one. I entirely approve of that course.”

“Thank you. And now, prince, one matter before we proceed.”

“Yes.”

“You have taken it for granted since my arrival here, that I will accept the commission you wish to give me. I will say that I am quite ready to accept it, and that it is the sort of thing that I like to do. But nevertheless there are conditions which I must make before I agree to take this matter in hand.”

“Oh, as to that, Mr. Carter, your recompense——”

“I had not even thought of that part of it. When the work is done, you will receive a bill for my services, which I will expect you to pay. I shall supply the money for my own expenses, and make them as liberal as seems necessary. But I was not referring to that subject.”

“To what one, then?”

“To the matter in hand. I cannot take your case and carry it through to an end, depending upon half confidences, or only part confidences. I must be intrusted with full and entire confidence, otherwise we must let the matter drop where it is.”

“You mean—just what do you mean, Mr. Carter?”

“I mean that I must know _all_ of the story; not merely a part of it.”

“I understand you, but I doubt——”

“Pardon me, prince, but if you doubt, let the matter stop where it is. There is absolutely no use continuing it. I must have your entire confidence, or none at all.”

“To give you my full confidence in the manner you imply, Mr. Carter, I must betray the secrets of my sovereign, which are, in part, at least, reposed in me alone.”

“Even so, sir, I cannot qualify what I have said. I cannot perform the service for you, if I am like the horse of a picador when it enters the bull ring; blindfolded. I must be able to see; and unless you can intrust me with the secrets of your sovereign, as well as with your own, I am not worthy to be trusted at all.”

The ambassador was silent, tapping the top of the desk with his pencil.

But after a moment he raised his eyes and said:

“So be it, Mr. Carter. I will not caval with you; you are right. In order to carry out this matter to a successful issue, you must know as much as I do about it.”

“Just so, prince.”

“But bear in mind our agreement to refer to that unnamed country as Siam.”

“I do.”

“I will begin, then, by stating that some years ago I was ambassador to—er—Siam. Really, I will have to accustom myself to that form of expression, for upon my word I was never anywhere near Siam in my life.”

“Never mind a small detail like that one, prince.”

“No, indeed. Well, when I represented his majesty there, certain matters arose which led me to make a suggestion to my august master, which I believed would redound to the credit, and greatly to the aggrandizement also, of my own country.”

“And that matter was—what?”

“I will go into all of that presently, Mr. Carter. It is not my purpose now to keep anything back from you; but permit me to get over the main point of the matter first.”

“As you please.”

“When I first proposed it, I was smiled at; then I scored. Heed was at last taken of my suggestions, and I was directed to begin work on the idea. That, I may say, happened ten years ago.”

“It is not a new thing, then.”

“From the point of time, it is not.”

“Well, sir?”

“I remained in—er—Siam three years longer. Then I suggested that, in order to prosecute the work upon which I had begun action, it would be well to place another man there, and to send me to the court of St. James. I figured that I could work from there, with less chance of my purpose being discovered than from Siam itself.”

“I understand you.”

“Two years after that, I again suggested a change, and I came here.”

“So you have actually been engaged upon it five years here in Washington.”

“Yes.”

“Well, sir?”

“Until I came here to Washington, I had reason to suppose that entire secrecy had been preserved; but almost at once after my establishment here, I became convinced that a suggestion of what I was doing, or trying to do, had reached the government of—er—Siam. In a short time I was sure of it. Spies from there began to appear. Of course I have a sufficient staff of spies at my own command, and it was not difficult for me to know that Siam was largely represented here. I put two and two together, and made up my mind that I and my work was the cause, or rather the reason of their presence.”

“Naturally.”

“Nevertheless, I have worked on confident in my ability to control affairs—until now; but at last they have succeeded in sending some person here, who has proved to be too keen for me. Certain of my papers, which I have safeguarded with the greatest care, have been stolen. Those papers must be found and restored; not because I cannot replace them, for I can do that; but because they must not be permitted to betray what I am doing.”