CHAPTER XXI

THE MAN WITH THE DECORATION

It was rather late on the afternoon of the same day that Ashton-Kirk, accompanied by young Fuller, entered a government building at Washington. Apparently the secret agent was expected, for he was ushered into the same superbly appointed office as upon his former visit; and the same ruddy-faced, white-haired official greeted him.

"So," said the latter, "the hunt has brought you here."

Ashton-Kirk tossed his gloves and hat upon the desk and shook hands.

"That," said he, "is now the status of the affair--it's a hunt; and the pack is an assorted one and in full cry."

"We received your wire yesterday, and the department's agents at once went to work."

"Is there any result?"

"Nothing marked."

"But surely they have located the girl?"

"Oh, yes, of course. She did not make the slightest attempt to hide. As soon as she arrived in the city she went to the Tillinghast and placed her own name upon the register. And since arriving there she has not once gone out."

"Any visitors?"

"No. But about noon a message arrived for her. And our man recognized the messenger as one connected with, curiously enough--the German Embassy."

"The German Embassy!"

A peculiar expression came into the face of Ashton-Kirk. He sat looking at the secretary for a moment; and then the latter saw a slow smile gradually creep about his mouth. He took a note-book from his pocket, and glanced at some memoranda.

"Of course," said he, after a moment, "you have the names and biographies of the various persons attached to the foreign embassies?"

"To be sure."

"If it is not too much trouble, I should like to see a list of the German officials."

The secretary touched a bell; an attendant heard his wants, disappeared, and in a few moments reappeared, placing a small book upon the desk. The secret agent took it up, and his long, inquiring finger ran down a column of names.

"Von Marc," he read, "Stelzner, Konig, Dietz." Then the finger paused. "Von Steinmetz," said he. "Page twenty-nine." He turned the pages until he came to the one indicated; and what he found there he read with attention. When he had finished he laid the volume upon the desk.

"To have Germany drawn into this matter," said he, "will of course complicate matters."

"You expect that she _will_ be drawn into it?" and the secretary looked at him inquiringly. The secret agent nodded, and the secretary continued: "To have a certain document fall into her hands might lead to nothing--and then again it might lead to a great deal."

He sat pondering for a moment; then his ruddy face lighted up, and he said:

"Pardon me a moment."

He called for a number on the telephone and chatted with Ashton-Kirk while he waited. When the connection was made, he said into the receiver:

"Did I understand that you have Stelzner for to-night?" There was a pause while the answer was being made. Then he proceeded, evidently well satisfied: "Very well; then you may expect an additional guest. Good-bye."

He turned from the telephone and settled back in his chair.

"My wife is giving a dinner to-night," said he. "I do not know all her arrangements, but I can promise you an excellent dinner and a most distinguished company. Also," and there was a significant look in his eyes as he said it, "there will be a person present who will interest you a great deal."

"I shall be delighted to eat your dinner and meet your distinguished company," laughed Ashton-Kirk. "But, above all, I am desirous of meeting the person who will interest me."

At their hotel a little later, Ashton-Kirk discussed the situation with his aide. Fuller listened with amazement.

"But," he cried, when the other had done, "this sounds preposterous! Why should Miss Corbin desire to deal with the German Embassy in a matter which she planned with Okiu?"

"Before we make up our minds that she _did_ plan with Okiu," said Ashton-Kirk, "let us look further. As it stands we are not at all assured of it."

"Assured!" Fuller stared in astonishment. "Have you forgotten her secret conference with the Japanese that day at the window? Have you forgotten the talk Nanon heard between the girl and her lover on the stairs? Have you forgotten the presence of that lover in Okiu's house when you were all but trapped, and his desperate attempt upon your life? And surely the girl's own attempt in the matter of the communicating gas pipe has not escaped you! I say 'the girl's own attempt' because it was she who urged the man on. And, above all, the matter of the taxi-cab must be still fresh in your memory. As soon as she was possessed of the paper she made at once for Okiu's. And he was waiting for her. Did she not get into the cab with him? Did they not drive to the railway station? Did he not buy two tickets for Washington? Is she not here?" Fuller was tense with excitement; his eyes snapped as he made each point. "And for all," he added in amazement, "you seem to doubt that she was concerned in the matter with the Japanese."

Ashton-Kirk smiled at his aide's heat.

"I merely asked if we were assured that she was so concerned," said he, quietly. "No case is built upon appearances alone. They merely point out things which should be examined; the results of this latter are the threads which, when woven together, make the case complete."

An hour or two later the secret agent was set down at the handsome residence of the secretary; and upon entering found that genial gentleman in the midst of a knot of his dinner guests and was warmly greeted by both he and his wife. As soon as he decently could, the host drew Ashton-Kirk aside.

"That round, rosy little man with the decoration upon his coat is your interesting person," suggested he. "We shall put you as close to him as we can."

The secret agent examined the little man, who was possessed of a gleaming bald head, a cheerful manner, and a pronounced German accent; and while he was so doing, the secretary went on:

"As I said this afternoon, I am not always acquainted with my wife's arrangements. And now I find that we are also to have Matsadi--and Matsadi, if you are not already aware of the fact, is the Japanese minister's right-hand man."

"I have heard him mentioned," said Ashton-Kirk. "And I understand that he is clever."

"He has a wonderful touch--scarcely perceptible, and unusually successful."

At the table Ashton-Kirk found himself near to Matsadi and opposite the rosy little German. The Japanese was spare and narrow-faced; he wore glasses, talked little and ate less. But he seemed keenly alive to all that was said and done; his diffident smile approved of everything.

The little German ate a great deal and drank quite a bit more. And he talked ceaselessly. As the dinner progressed he grew rosier than ever; his eyes and his bald dome seemed trying to out-shine his decoration. There was a chuckle in his voice when he addressed his host, which was often, and his head nodded humorously over what were evidently intended as thickly veiled allusions. But as the secretary paid little attention to his sayings, the German began to direct his remarks to Matsadi. The latter replied with a courteous reserve which seemed to amuse the German vastly; sometimes he shook like a portly mould of gelatine.

"Ach, himmel!" said he, nodding to Ashton-Kirk, whose eye he happened to catch, "some the sense of humor have not. As for me, always do I laugh, whether the joke is on me or not."

"You are to be envied," replied the secret agent.

The little man cocked his eye at Matsadi in a most knowing manner.

"I have heard it said, 'That the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,'" he said. "Was it a psalmist, a prophet or a poet of our own time who so spoke? But no matter, it is very good--but not complete. One might add 'That the reward is not always to the industrious.'"

Observing that he was being spoken to, the Japanese leaned forward.

"I beg your pardon?" said he, inquiringly.

"There is philosophy in the wine," observed the German, and he added to the luster of his brilliant scalp by rubbing it with a handkerchief. "And with me its wisdom stays upon the tongue."

The Japanese smiled sedately.

"I have noticed that," said he.

The other laughed and quivered with all his round little body.

"Good," said he. "I was in hopes that you would wake up." Then he went on in a sort of musing tone, but with dancing eyes: "Many a man has toiled early and late to make a plant fruitful; and the result of his work is that some idle one, who laughs and drinks and snaps his fingers at labor, has the ripened fruit fall into his lap."

Matsadi seemed not to grasp the meaning of this; at any rate he smiled in a vague sort of way and contented himself with nodding his head. Very little passed between them after this, as the Japanese had his attention taken by the lady beside him; but later, in the coat room, Ashton-Kirk heard him say to the German:

"Your simile of the industrious planter and the vagabond was a very excellent one. And it frequently happens so. I was much struck with it."

A young man, wearing a number of Austrian orders, said, as he was being helped on with his coat:

"Are you going on to Von Stunnenberg's, Matsadi? Perhaps I could give you a lift."

"Thank you," said the Japanese. "Yes, I had thought of going."

"I'll wait for you," said the other, as he went out.

Matsadi took up his gloves and hat; he paused before the laughing German.

"Yes," said he, and there was a thoughtful look upon his face, "your parable was a good one. But does the story always end so? As the idle one lifts the fruit to his greedy lips, do I not see the patient toiler reaching out to snatch it from him?"

And as Matsadi hurried after the Austrian, the portly little man chuckled rapturously.

"They are so like children," said he.

As Ashton-Kirk shook hands with the secretary, the latter said:

"I trust that Stelzner entertained you. He loves to make a parade behind the wall of innuendo and allusion when he is well fed. And, then, I fancied that he might have heard something."

"He was invaluable," said Ashton-Kirk. "And," with a smile, "Matsadi was not without his interesting weaknesses." After a short pause he said: "There is to be something or other to-night at the house of the German ambassador, Von Stunnenberg?"

"Yes, a ball, I believe."

"As a rule I avoid such things," said the secret agent; "but if you could manage to have me received at this one, I should be delighted.