Read Online Wallace Intervenes by Alexander Wilson - Free Book Online

have been convinced that there was nothing at all of the cold, experienced woman of the world about the baroness had he seen her just after he left. She stood for some moments gently stroking the hand on which he had imprinted a kiss, her eyes, in which was the softest light imaginable, gazing into vacancy. At length she stirred, went into her bedroom, threw herself on the bed. ‘Sophie,’ she murmured, to herself, ‘what a little fool you are!’ Her maid entered quietly to find her lying there weeping gently, and stole out again, her woman’s heart torn between affection and duty. Duty, that cold, unfeeling monster, won. Thus the conversation between Foster and the baroness was reported to the fellow called Carl, who relayed it toBerlin. The recipient of it, a man who had an iron grip on all Germany, promptly went into a towering rage, and began to hatch in his mind a scheme which eventually had dire consequences to more than one person.
    Foster duly called for the baroness next morning, and found her awaiting him. He drove her into the beautiful byways of Surrey and Sussex, and she was enchanted. They had a simple but marvellously cooked luncheon at an old inn, tea at a charming farmhouse. When eventually they returned to the Carlton, to find to their amusement that a stream of callers had been enquiring for the baroness, she declared that she had never been happier or had had a more delightful time in her life.
    Thereafter Foster took her somewhere almost every day during the remainder of her stay in London. In consequence, he became decidedly unpopular with the people who felt they had a right to a certain amount of her society. However, they were forced to be content with meeting her at the receptions, balls, and at homes which she could not avoid. Foster seldom attended these. He disliked formalities of that kind; besides which, he knew he could not expect to have Sophie to himself at them, and matters had now reached such a pass that he hated being one of a crowd round her. He and she spoke no more of the danger which she had hinted was threatening her. She volunteered no information concerning it, while he made no effort to question her. Her remark that there were some things of which she could not yet speak, but perhaps someday would tell him, had caused him to hope that voluntarily she might give him the information which it was his business to obtain. He was a trifle puzzled by her. During their trips together she spoke often of Austria, and it was not difficult to gather that she possessed a deep, abiding love for the country of her birth. Thiscaused him all the more to wonder why she continued to reside in Berlin, since her husband was dead, and, above all, associate with von Strom and the German Chancellor, who, although of Austrian descent himself, was believed to have no particular affection for that country. It was quite well known that his ambition was to unite Austria and Germany, and make of them one large nation. Baron von Reudath had, shortly before his death, been very friendly with the Supreme Marshal. It was because of that that Sophie had been whirled into international politics, her shrewd common sense and keen judgement having, thereafter, proved of great value to von Strom; so much so that he had come to place immense reliance in her and discuss his problems with her.
    The knowledge of this caused Foster to feel thoroughly amazed as he observed her keen enjoyment of their trips together. It was not a pose. She took an almost childlike pleasure in the outings. They certainly did her an immense amount of good. Two years previously, he learnt, she had had a bad accident, which had caused her heart to be severely strained. For a time her life had been despaired of, but a great physician in Vienna had pulled her through. He announced, however, that she would have to be careful, and would be more or less an invalid for the rest of her life. His prognostications had happily not been