May 16, 2025 • 28 mins
When the British Consulate in Leghorn falls victim to a puzzling burglary, and an enigmatic English yacht pays an unexpected visit, it sparks an enthralling journey of espionage and hidden criminal machinations. This thrilling tale sweeps the reader from London to Scotland, and finally to the oppressed lands of Finland, under the harsh rule of imperial Russia. Our protagonist is a man of exceptional acumen, a precursor to the likes of Double O Seven, who finds himself pushed to his limits as he navigates this web of intrigue and deception to uncover the truth. - Summary by Nicholas Clifford
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seventeen of The CSARS Spy. This Lieberbox recording is
in the public domain. Recording by Tom Weiss, The TSAR
spyed by William Lequeue, chapter seventeen, The Truth about the Lola.
Throughout the long night I called many times at the hospital,
(00:22):
but the reply was always the same. Jack had not
regained consciousness, and the doctor regarded his case as hopeless.
In the morning, I drove in hot haste to Bassett Road,
notting Hill, and at the address Olinto had given me
found Muriel. When she entered the room with folding doors
into which I had been shown, I saw that she
(00:44):
was pale and apprehensive, for we had not met since
her flight, and she was, no doubt at a loss
for an explanation. But I did not press her for one.
I merely told her that the Italian Santini had given
me her address, and that I came as bearer of
unfortunate news. What is it, she gasped quickly. It concerns
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Captain Dernford, I replied, he has been injured in the
street and is in Charing Cross Hospital. Ah, she cried,
I see you do not explain the truth by your face.
I can tell there is something more. He's dead, tell
me the worst. No, miss Lyfecourt, I said, gravely, not dead,
but the doctor's fear that he may not recover his
(01:28):
wound is dangerous. He has been shot by some unknown person, shot,
she echoed, bursting into tears. Then they have followed him,
after all, they have deceived me, and now as they
intend to take him from me, I will myself protect him. You,
mister Gregg, have been in peril of your life, that
I know. But Jack's enemies are yours, and they shall
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not go unpunished. May I see him? I fear not,
but we will ask at the hospital, and after the
exchange of some further explanation, we took a handsome back
to Charing Cross. At first the sister refused to allow
Muriel to see the patient, but she implored so earnestly
that at last she consented, and the distressed girl in
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the black coat and hat crept on tiptoe to the bedside.
He was conscious for a quarter of an hour or so,
whispered the nurse who sat there. He asked, after some
lady named Muriel. The girl at my side burst into
low sobbing. Tell him, she said that Muriel is here
that she has seen him and is waiting for him
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to recover. We were not allowed to linger there, and
on leaving the hospital, I took her back to notting Hill,
promising to keep her well informed of Jack's condition. He
had returned to consciousness, therefore there was now a faint
hope for his recovery. Day succeeded day, and although I
was not allowed to visit my friend, I was told
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that he was very slowly progressing. I idled at the
hotel Cecil, longing daily for some news of Elma. Only
once did a letter come from her, a brief, well
written note from which it appeared that she was quite
well and happy, although she longed to be able to
go out. The Princess was very kind indeed to her,
and she added was making secret arrangements for her escape
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across the Russian frontier into Germany. I knew what that meant.
Use was to be made of certain Russian officials who
were secretly allied with the revolutionists, in order to secure
her safe conduct beyond the power of that order of
exile of the Tyrant des Plow. I wrote to her
under cover, to the Princess, but there had been no
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time yet for a reply. I saw Muriel many times,
but never once did she refer to Rannoch or their
sudden departure. Her only thought was of the man she loved.
I always believed that you were engaged to mister Woodruff,
I said one day, when I called to tell her
of Jack's latest full It is true that he asked
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me to marry him, she responded, But there were reasons
why I did not accept, reasons connected with his past. Eh.
She smiled, and then said, Ah, mister Gregg, it is
all a strange and very tragic story. I must see Jack.
When do you think they will allow me to go
to him? I explained that the doctor feared to cause
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the patient any undue excitement, but that in two or
three days there was hope of her being allowed to
visit him. Several times the police made inquiry of me,
but I could tell them nothing. I could not, for
the life of me recollect where I had before seen
the face of that man who had passed in the darkness.
One afternoon, ten days after the attempt upon Jack, I
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was allowed to sit by his bedside and question him.
Ah Gordon, old fellow, he said, faintly, I've had a
narrow escape. By Jove. After I left you, I walked
quickly on towards the club, when all of a sudden
two scoundrels sprang out of Suffolk Street, and one of
them fired a revolver full at me. Then I knew
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no more. But who were the men? Did you recognize them? No,
not at all. That's the worst of it. But Muriel
knows who they were. I said, ah, yes, bring her here,
won't you. The poor fellow implored, I'm dying to see
her once again. Then I told him how she had
looked upon him while unconscious, and how I had taken
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the Daily bulletin to her. For an hour. I talked
with him, urging him to get well soon so that
we could unite in probing the mystery and bringing to
justice those responsible for the dastardly act. Muriel knows, and
if she loves you, she will no doubt assist us.
I said, Oh, she does love me, Gordon. I know that,
said the prostrate man, smiling contentedly. And when I left,
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I promised to bring her there on the morrow. This
I did, But having conducted her to the bed at
the end of the ward, I discreetly withdrew what she
said to him. I am, not, of course aware. All
I know is that an hour later, when I returned,
I found them the happiest pair possible to concede, and
I clearly saw that Jack's trust in her was not
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ill placed. But what of Alma. No further word had
come from her, and I began to grow uneasy. The
days went on, I wrote twice, but no reply was forthcoming.
At last I could bear the suspense no longer and
began to contemplate returning to Russia. Jack, when at last
discharged from the hospital, came across to the Cecil and
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lived with me in preference to the junior. He was
very weak at first, and I looked after him, while
every day Muriel came and ate with us, brightening our
lives by her smart and merry chatter. She knew that
I loved Elma, and was also aware of the exciting
events in Russia, Jack having told her of them during
their long drives in Handsome when he went out with
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her to take the air. One day, I received a
brief note from the Princess in Petersburg, urging me to
remain patient and saying Elma was quite safe and well.
There were reasons, however, why she was unable to write,
She added, What were they? I wondered, Yet I could
only wait until I received word to travel back to
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Russia and fetch her home. The princess had promised to
arrange everything. December came and we still remained on at
the hotel. Once Olinto had written me repeating his warning,
but I did not heed it. I somehow distrusted the fellow. Jack,
now thoroughly recovered, called almost daily at Bassett Road and
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would often bring Muriel to the cecil to tea or
to luncheon. Often I inquired the whereabouts of her father
and of Hilton Chatter, but she declared herself in entire
ignorance and believed they were abroad. One afternoon, shortly before Christmas,
as we were idling in the American bar of the hotel,
my friend told me that Muriel had invited us to
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tea at her cousin's that afternoon, and accordingly we went
there in company. The drawing room into which we were
ushered was familiar to me as the apartment wherein I
had told Muriel of the attempt upon her lover's life,
as we sat together. Muriel, a smart figure in a
pale blue gown, poured tea for us and chatted more merrily,
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I thought than ever before. She seemed quick and nervous,
and yet full of happiness, as she should indeed have been.
For Jack Drnfort was one of the best fellows in
the world, and his restoration to health little short of miraculous. Gordon,
he said to me with a sudden seriousness, when tea
had ended and we had placed down her cups, I
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want to tell you something, something I've been longing always
to tell you, and now I have got dear Muriel's consent.
I want to tell you about her father and friends,
and about Elma too, I said, in quick eagerness. Yes,
tell me everything. No, not everything, for I don't know
it myself. But what I know I will explain as
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briefly as I can, and leave you to form your
own conclusions. It is, he went on a strange, most
amazing story. When I myself became first cognizant of the mystery.
I was on board the flagship the Renown under Admiral
Sir John Fisher. We were lying in Malta when there
arrived the English yacht Iris owned by mister Philip Lythepoort,
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and among those on board cruising for pleasure were mister
Martin Woodruff, mister Hilton Chatter, and the owner's wife and daughter, Muriel.
Muriel and I met first at a tennis party, and
afterwards frequently at various houses in Malta. For any one
who goes there and entertains is soon entertained. In return,
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a mutual attachment sprang up between Muriel and myself, he said,
placing his hand tenderly upon hers and smiling. And we
often met in secret and took long walks, until quite
suddenly lythecourt said it was necessary to sail for Smyrna
to pick up some friends who had been traveling in Palestine.
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The night they sailed, a great consternation was caused on
the island by the news that the safe in the
Admiral Superintendent's office had been opened by expert safe breakers
and certain most important secret documents solden Well I asked
much interested again. Two months later, when the villa of
the Prince of Montevachi at Palermo was broken into and
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the whole of the famous Jewels of the Princess Stolden.
It was a very strange fact that the Iris was
at the moment in that court. But it was not
until the third occasion, when the yacht was at Vifanse
and our squadron training at Toulon, I got four days
leave to go along the Rivera that my suspicion were aroused.
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For at the very hour when I was dining at
the London House at Nice with Muriel and a schoolfellow
of hers, Elma Heath, who was spending the winter there
with a lady who was Baron Oberg's cousin, that a
great robbery was committed in one of the big hotels
of but Schimez, the wife of an American millionaire, losing
jewels valued at thirty thousand pounds. Then the robberies, coincident
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with the visit of the yacht aroused my strong suspicion.
I remarked the nature of those documents stolen from Malta
and recognized that they could only be of service to
a foreign government. Then came the legorn incident of which
you told me the yacht's name had been changed to
the Lola, and she had been repainted. I made searching
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inquiry and found that on the evening she was purposely
run aground in order to strike a friendship at the counsulate.
A Russian gunboat was lying in the vicinity. The Council's
safe was rifled, and the scheme certainly was to transfer
anything obtained from it to the Russian gunboat. But what
was in the safe, I asked? Fortunately? Nothing? But you see,
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they knew that our squadron was due in Legorne, and
that some extremely important dispatches were on the way to
the Admiral secret orders based upon the decision of the
British Cabinet as to the vexed question of Russian ships
passing the Dardanelles. They expected that they would be lodged
in the safe until the arrival of the squadron, as
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they always are. They were, however, bitterly disappointed because the
dispatches had not arrived, and then well, the only Russian
who appeared to have any connection with them was Baron Oberg,
the Governor General of Finland, whose habit it was to
spend part of the winter in the Mediterranean. From Almahis's
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conversation at dinner that evening at Nice, I gathered that
she and her uncle had been guessed on the Iris
on several occasions, although I must say that Muriel was
extremely reticent regarding all that concerned the yacht. Of course,
she said quickly, now that I have told you the truth, Jack,
don't you think it was only natural? Most certainly, dear,
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he answered, still holding her hand Yours was not a
secret that you could very well tell to me until
you could thoroughly trust me, especially as your father had
been implicated in the theft of those documents from Malta.
The truth is, he said, turning to me. Philip Lyfecourt
has all along been the cat's paw of Baron Oberg.
(13:33):
A few years ago. He was a well known money
lender in the city, and in that capacity met the Baron, who,
being in disgrace, required alone. He was also in the
habit of having certain shady transactions with that daring gang
of continental thieves, of whom Dick Archer and Hilton Chatter
were leaders. For this reason he purchased a yacht for
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their use, so that they might not only use it
for the purpose of storing the goods, but for the
purpose of sailing from place to place under the guise
of wealthy Englishmen traveling for pleasure upon that vessel. Indeed
was stored thousands and thousands of pounds worth of jewels
and objects of value, the proceeds of many great robberies
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in England, France and Belgium. Sometimes they traveled for the
purpose of disposing of the jewels in various inland towns
where the gems, having been recut, were not recognized, while
at other times Chatter and Archer, assisted by Mackintosh the
Captain and Olento Santini the stewart, sailed for a port landed,
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committed a robbery, and then sailed away again, quite unsuspected
as rich englishmen and the crew, I asked after a pause,
They were, of course well paid, and were kept in
ignorance of what the supposed owner and his friends did assure.
But Oberg's connection with it, I asked. Surprised at those revelations,
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Ah exclaimed Muriel. The ingenuity of that crafty villain is fiendish.
Before he got into the Czar's favor, he owed my
father a large sum, and then sought how to evade
repayment by means of his spies. He discovered the real
purpose of the cruises of the Iris for I was
often taken on board with a maid in order to
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allay any suspicion that might arise if only men were cruising.
Then he not only compelled my father to cancel the debt,
but he impressed the vessel and those who owned it,
had navigated it into the Secret service of Russia. A
dozen times did we make attempts to obtain secret papers
from Italian, French and English dock yards. But only once
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in the case of Malta, and once at Toulon, did
we succeed. Ah, mister Gregg, she added, you do not
know all the anxiety I suffered, how at every hour
we were in danger of betrayal or capture, and of
the hundred narrow escapes we have had of custom house
officers rummaging the yacht for contraband you will no doubt
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recollect the sensation caused by the theft of the jewels
of the Princess Wilhelmine of Chamburg Lip from the lady's
maid in the rapide between Khan and Leyar, the robbery
from the Marseilles branch of the Credit Linnais, and the
Great Hall of Plate from the Chateau of Bardon. The
Paris millionaire close to our Khan. Yes, I said, for
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they were all robberies of which I had read in
the newspapers a couple of years before. Well, she said,
they were all committed by archer or Woodruf and his gang,
with the compliccees of shore, of course, and never once
did it seem that any suspicion fell upon us. While
the police were frantically searching hither and thither, we used
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to weigh anchor and calmly steam away with our booty.
On board. We had with us an old Dutch lapidary,
and one of the cabins was fitted as a workshop,
where he altered the appearance of the stones and prepared
them ready for sail, while the gold was melted in
a crucible and put ashore to be sent to agents
in Hamburg. But that night in le Gorn, I said,
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what happened to poor Elma, I do not know was
Muriel's reply. We were both on board together and standing
at the crack of the door, watched you sitting at
dinner that evening. Alma told me that she believed that
there was a plot against your life. But why she
would not tell me? She evidently knew of the proposed
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rifling of the safe at the council it Oberg himself
was also on board, locked in his own cabin. Alma
must have overheard some conversation between the Baron and one
of the others, for she was in great fear the
whole time lest they might injure you. Yet it seemed,
after all, as though their idea was the same as always,
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to worm themselves into your confidence. The instant, however, you
went ashore, chatter Woodruff, whom you called Hornby, and Gintosh,
the captain, who, by the way, was an old ticket
of leave man when the shore, and of course broke
into the councilate. Then as soon as they returned, Alma
came to my cabin, awoke me and said that the
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Baron was taking her ashore, and that they were to
travel over land back to London. She was ready dressed
to go. Therefore I kissed her, and, promising to meet
her soon, we parted. That was the last I saw
of her. What happened to her afterwards only she alone
can tell us. But she is not the Baron's niece,
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I said, no, there is some mystery, declared Muriel. She
holds some secret, which he fears she may divulge. But
of what nature I am in ignorance. Then you say
that your father has never taken any active part in
the robberies, I remarked no. He commenced by lending money
and amassed a considerable fortune. Then avarice seized him, as
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it does so many men, and coming into contact with
Archer and his friends, he saw that the idea of
the yacht was a safe and profitable one. Therefore he
purchased a vessel and ran it at the disposition of
the thieves, and subsequently under compulsion in the secret surface
of Russia. As I have already described to you, the
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prophets were colossal. In one year, my father's share was
eighty thousand pounds. And where is your father now, I asked, Ah,
she exclaimed, sadly, her face hale and haggard. I have
heard that the vessel was scuttled somewhere in the Baltic
That is true. Oberg's purpose having been served, he demanded
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half the property on board, or he would give notice
to the Russian naval authorities that the pirate yacht was afloat.
He attempted to blackmail my father as he had already
done so many times, but his scheme was frustrated. My father,
because of his inhuman treatment of poor Alma, defied him.
When it appears that Oberg, who was in Helsingfors telegraphed
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to the admiral of the Russian fleet in the Baltic,
the crew from the Irish were at once landed at Riga,
and only Mackintosh and my father put to sea again.
Now my father was desperate, for he knew the merciless
character of that man whose victim he had been for
so long. They watched the Russian cruiser bearing down upon them,
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when just as it drew near, they got off in
a boat and blew up the yacht, which sank in
three minutes with its ill obtained wealth on board, and
your father, She was silent, and I saw tears standing
in her eyes. There was a tragedy, Jack explained in
a low, hoarse voice. He and the captain did not,
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unfortunately yet sufficiently far from the yacht when they blew
her up, and they went down with her. And I
looked in silence at Muriel, who stood with her head
bent and her white face covered with her hands. Almost
at the same time there was a low tap at
the door, and the servant maid announced mister Santini, miss
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Ah exclaimed Jack quickly as Olinto entered the room. Then
you had my note. We have asked you here to
reveal to us this dastardly plot which seemed to have
been formed against mister Gregg and myself. As you know,
I have had a narrow escape. I know, Signor and
the Signor Commandentore is also threatened by whom, by those
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who killed my poor wife, and who intended also to
silence me, was his answer. The same who compelled you
to take me to that house where the fatal chair
was prepared. Eh, it was Archer who, fearing that you
came to London in search of them, devised that devilish contrivance,
he said in his broken English. Then continuing, he went
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on fiercely. Now that I have discovered why my poor
Armida was killed, I will tell the truth and not
spare them. Since you left Scotland, Signor, I have been
up in Dumfries and have discovered several facts which prove that,
for some reason known only to myself, Lifecourt while at
Rannach wrote to both Armida and myself separately making an
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appointment to see us at the same time at that
spot on the edge of the wood, as he had
some secret commission to entrust to us. The letter addressed
to me apparently fell into some one else's hands, probably
one of the secret agents of Baron Oberg, who were
always watching Life Court's doings, and he, anxious to learn
what was intended, made himself up to look like me
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and kept the appointment in my place. Armida, having received
the letter unknown to me, went up to Scotland and
was also there at the appointed time. What actually transpired
can only be surmised. Yet it seems that life Coourt
was in the habit of going up to that spot
and loitering there in the evening in order to meet
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Chatter in secret, as the latter was in hiding in
a small hotel in Dumfries. Therefore, those who formed the
plot must have endeavored to throw suspicion upon life Court.
It is plain, however, as both myself and Armida knew
the gang, it was to their interest to get rid
of us, because the suspicions of the police had at
last become aroused. Who or Armidah was therefore deliberately enticed
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there to her death, while the inquisitive man, whom the
assassin took to be myself, was also struck down by
whom not by chatter or he was in London on
that night, then by Woodruff. Dernford said, without a doubt
it was almost cleverly thought out. It was to his
advantage alone to close our lips, because in that same
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fatal chair in lambeth Old Jacob Moser, the jew bullion
broker of Hatton Garden, met his death a most dastardly
crime with which none of his friends were associated, and
of which we alone held knowledge. He therefore wrote to
us as though from life Court, calling us up to
Rannoch in order to strike the blows in the darkness.
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He added, in his peculiar Italian manner. Besides, he feared
we would tell the signor the truth you have not
told the police. I dare not signor. Surely the less
the police know about this matter, the better, Otherwise the
signorit the life Court must suffer for her father's avarice
and ill doing. Yes, cried Jack anxiously, that's right, o'linto.
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The police must know nothing. The reprisals we must make ourselves.
But who was it who shot me in Suffolk Street?
The same man, Martin Woodrum. Then the assassin is back
from Russia. He followed closely behind the Signor Commandentour Markov,
a clever secret agent of Baron Oberg's, came with him. Then,
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for the first time I recollected that the man I
had recooned in the strand was a fellow I had
seen lounging in the ante room of the Palace of
the Governor General of Finland. The pair, fearing that I
should reveal what I knew, were undoubtedly in London to
take my life in secret. Now that Lithecourt was dead,
Woodruff had united forces with Oberg and intended to silence
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me because they feared that Elma, besides escaping them, had
also revealed her secret. I trust that the Senora Lithecourt
has explained the story of the yacht and its crew,
Olinto remarked, and has also shown you how I was implicated.
You will therefore discern the reason why I have hitherto
feared to give you any explanation. Yes, I said, Missus,
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Lithecourt has told me a great deal, but not everything.
I cannot yet gather for what reason she and her
father fled from Rannoch. Then I will tell you, said
Muriel quickly. My father suspected Woodruff of being the assassin
in Rannoch Wood, for he knew that he had broken
away from the original compact and had now allied himself
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with Obert. Yet it was also my father's object to
appear in fear of them, because he was only awaiting
an opportunity to lay plans for poor Elma's rescue from Finland. Therefore,
one evening Woodruf called and my father encountered him in
the avenue and admitted him with his own latch key
by one of the side doors of the castle, afterwards
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taking him up to the study. He knew that he
had come to try and make terms for Obert. Therefore
he saw that he must fly at once to Newcastle,
where the Iris was lying yet on board, and sail
away with some excuse. He left him in the study,
and then warned my mother and myself to prepare to leave.
But while we were packing, it appeared that Chatter, who
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had followed, was shown into the study by the butler,
or rather he entered there himself, being well acquainted with
the house. Thus the two men, now bitter enemies, met,
A fierce quarrel must have ensued, and chatter was poisoned
and concealed. Woodruf, of course, believing he had killed him.
My father entered the study again, and, seeing only Woodruff there,
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did not know what had occurred. Some words probably arose
when my father again turned and left. Then we fled
to Carlyle, and on to Newcastle, and next morning were
on board the yacht out in the North Sea, afterwards
landing at Rotterdam. Those she added are briefly the facts
as my poor father related them to me. And what
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of poor Alma and of her secret? When I wonder,
shall I see her? I cried in despair. You will
see her now, signor, answered Olinto, A servant of the
Princess Zulav, brought her to London this afternoon, and I
have just conveyed her from the station. She is in
the next room in ignorance, however, that you are here,
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and without another word, I fled forward joyfully and threw
open the folding doors which separated me from my silent love. Silent, yes,
but she could nevertheless tell her storily. Surely the strangest
that any woman has ever lived to tell. End of
Chapter seventeen, recording by Tom Ways,
Chapter seventeen of The CSARS Spy. This Lieberbox recording is
in the public domain. Recording by Tom Weiss, The TSAR
spyed by William Lequeue, chapter seventeen, The Truth about the Lola.
Throughout the long night I called many times at the hospital,
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but the reply was always the same. Jack had not
regained consciousness, and the doctor regarded his case as hopeless.
In the morning, I drove in hot haste to Bassett Road,
notting Hill, and at the address Olinto had given me
found Muriel. When she entered the room with folding doors
into which I had been shown, I saw that she
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was pale and apprehensive, for we had not met since
her flight, and she was, no doubt at a loss
for an explanation. But I did not press her for one.
I merely told her that the Italian Santini had given
me her address, and that I came as bearer of
unfortunate news. What is it, she gasped quickly. It concerns
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Captain Dernford, I replied, he has been injured in the
street and is in Charing Cross Hospital. Ah, she cried,
I see you do not explain the truth by your face.
I can tell there is something more. He's dead, tell
me the worst. No, miss Lyfecourt, I said, gravely, not dead,
but the doctor's fear that he may not recover his
(01:28):
wound is dangerous. He has been shot by some unknown person, shot,
she echoed, bursting into tears. Then they have followed him,
after all, they have deceived me, and now as they
intend to take him from me, I will myself protect him. You,
mister Gregg, have been in peril of your life, that
I know. But Jack's enemies are yours, and they shall
(01:50):
not go unpunished. May I see him? I fear not,
but we will ask at the hospital, and after the
exchange of some further explanation, we took a handsome back
to Charing Cross. At first the sister refused to allow
Muriel to see the patient, but she implored so earnestly
that at last she consented, and the distressed girl in
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the black coat and hat crept on tiptoe to the bedside.
He was conscious for a quarter of an hour or so,
whispered the nurse who sat there. He asked, after some
lady named Muriel. The girl at my side burst into
low sobbing. Tell him, she said that Muriel is here
that she has seen him and is waiting for him
(02:34):
to recover. We were not allowed to linger there, and
on leaving the hospital, I took her back to notting Hill,
promising to keep her well informed of Jack's condition. He
had returned to consciousness, therefore there was now a faint
hope for his recovery. Day succeeded day, and although I
was not allowed to visit my friend, I was told
(02:56):
that he was very slowly progressing. I idled at the
hotel Cecil, longing daily for some news of Elma. Only
once did a letter come from her, a brief, well
written note from which it appeared that she was quite
well and happy, although she longed to be able to
go out. The Princess was very kind indeed to her,
and she added was making secret arrangements for her escape
(03:19):
across the Russian frontier into Germany. I knew what that meant.
Use was to be made of certain Russian officials who
were secretly allied with the revolutionists, in order to secure
her safe conduct beyond the power of that order of
exile of the Tyrant des Plow. I wrote to her
under cover, to the Princess, but there had been no
(03:40):
time yet for a reply. I saw Muriel many times,
but never once did she refer to Rannoch or their
sudden departure. Her only thought was of the man she loved.
I always believed that you were engaged to mister Woodruff,
I said one day, when I called to tell her
of Jack's latest full It is true that he asked
(04:02):
me to marry him, she responded, But there were reasons
why I did not accept, reasons connected with his past. Eh.
She smiled, and then said, Ah, mister Gregg, it is
all a strange and very tragic story. I must see Jack.
When do you think they will allow me to go
to him? I explained that the doctor feared to cause
(04:23):
the patient any undue excitement, but that in two or
three days there was hope of her being allowed to
visit him. Several times the police made inquiry of me,
but I could tell them nothing. I could not, for
the life of me recollect where I had before seen
the face of that man who had passed in the darkness.
One afternoon, ten days after the attempt upon Jack, I
(04:47):
was allowed to sit by his bedside and question him.
Ah Gordon, old fellow, he said, faintly, I've had a
narrow escape. By Jove. After I left you, I walked
quickly on towards the club, when all of a sudden
two scoundrels sprang out of Suffolk Street, and one of
them fired a revolver full at me. Then I knew
(05:08):
no more. But who were the men? Did you recognize them? No,
not at all. That's the worst of it. But Muriel
knows who they were. I said, ah, yes, bring her here,
won't you. The poor fellow implored, I'm dying to see
her once again. Then I told him how she had
looked upon him while unconscious, and how I had taken
(05:30):
the Daily bulletin to her. For an hour. I talked
with him, urging him to get well soon so that
we could unite in probing the mystery and bringing to
justice those responsible for the dastardly act. Muriel knows, and
if she loves you, she will no doubt assist us.
I said, Oh, she does love me, Gordon. I know that,
said the prostrate man, smiling contentedly. And when I left,
(05:54):
I promised to bring her there on the morrow. This
I did, But having conducted her to the bed at
the end of the ward, I discreetly withdrew what she
said to him. I am, not, of course aware. All
I know is that an hour later, when I returned,
I found them the happiest pair possible to concede, and
I clearly saw that Jack's trust in her was not
(06:16):
ill placed. But what of Alma. No further word had
come from her, and I began to grow uneasy. The
days went on, I wrote twice, but no reply was forthcoming.
At last I could bear the suspense no longer and
began to contemplate returning to Russia. Jack, when at last
discharged from the hospital, came across to the Cecil and
(06:39):
lived with me in preference to the junior. He was
very weak at first, and I looked after him, while
every day Muriel came and ate with us, brightening our
lives by her smart and merry chatter. She knew that
I loved Elma, and was also aware of the exciting
events in Russia, Jack having told her of them during
their long drives in Handsome when he went out with
(07:01):
her to take the air. One day, I received a
brief note from the Princess in Petersburg, urging me to
remain patient and saying Elma was quite safe and well.
There were reasons, however, why she was unable to write,
She added, What were they? I wondered, Yet I could
only wait until I received word to travel back to
(07:21):
Russia and fetch her home. The princess had promised to
arrange everything. December came and we still remained on at
the hotel. Once Olinto had written me repeating his warning,
but I did not heed it. I somehow distrusted the fellow. Jack,
now thoroughly recovered, called almost daily at Bassett Road and
(07:44):
would often bring Muriel to the cecil to tea or
to luncheon. Often I inquired the whereabouts of her father
and of Hilton Chatter, but she declared herself in entire
ignorance and believed they were abroad. One afternoon, shortly before Christmas,
as we were idling in the American bar of the hotel,
my friend told me that Muriel had invited us to
(08:06):
tea at her cousin's that afternoon, and accordingly we went
there in company. The drawing room into which we were
ushered was familiar to me as the apartment wherein I
had told Muriel of the attempt upon her lover's life,
as we sat together. Muriel, a smart figure in a
pale blue gown, poured tea for us and chatted more merrily,
(08:28):
I thought than ever before. She seemed quick and nervous,
and yet full of happiness, as she should indeed have been.
For Jack Drnfort was one of the best fellows in
the world, and his restoration to health little short of miraculous. Gordon,
he said to me with a sudden seriousness, when tea
had ended and we had placed down her cups, I
(08:50):
want to tell you something, something I've been longing always
to tell you, and now I have got dear Muriel's consent.
I want to tell you about her father and friends,
and about Elma too, I said, in quick eagerness. Yes,
tell me everything. No, not everything, for I don't know
it myself. But what I know I will explain as
(09:12):
briefly as I can, and leave you to form your
own conclusions. It is, he went on a strange, most
amazing story. When I myself became first cognizant of the mystery.
I was on board the flagship the Renown under Admiral
Sir John Fisher. We were lying in Malta when there
arrived the English yacht Iris owned by mister Philip Lythepoort,
(09:36):
and among those on board cruising for pleasure were mister
Martin Woodruff, mister Hilton Chatter, and the owner's wife and daughter, Muriel.
Muriel and I met first at a tennis party, and
afterwards frequently at various houses in Malta. For any one
who goes there and entertains is soon entertained. In return,
(09:58):
a mutual attachment sprang up between Muriel and myself, he said,
placing his hand tenderly upon hers and smiling. And we
often met in secret and took long walks, until quite
suddenly lythecourt said it was necessary to sail for Smyrna
to pick up some friends who had been traveling in Palestine.
(10:18):
The night they sailed, a great consternation was caused on
the island by the news that the safe in the
Admiral Superintendent's office had been opened by expert safe breakers
and certain most important secret documents solden Well I asked
much interested again. Two months later, when the villa of
the Prince of Montevachi at Palermo was broken into and
(10:41):
the whole of the famous Jewels of the Princess Stolden.
It was a very strange fact that the Iris was
at the moment in that court. But it was not
until the third occasion, when the yacht was at Vifanse
and our squadron training at Toulon, I got four days
leave to go along the Rivera that my suspicion were aroused.
(11:01):
For at the very hour when I was dining at
the London House at Nice with Muriel and a schoolfellow
of hers, Elma Heath, who was spending the winter there
with a lady who was Baron Oberg's cousin, that a
great robbery was committed in one of the big hotels
of but Schimez, the wife of an American millionaire, losing
jewels valued at thirty thousand pounds. Then the robberies, coincident
(11:25):
with the visit of the yacht aroused my strong suspicion.
I remarked the nature of those documents stolen from Malta
and recognized that they could only be of service to
a foreign government. Then came the legorn incident of which
you told me the yacht's name had been changed to
the Lola, and she had been repainted. I made searching
(11:47):
inquiry and found that on the evening she was purposely
run aground in order to strike a friendship at the counsulate.
A Russian gunboat was lying in the vicinity. The Council's
safe was rifled, and the scheme certainly was to transfer
anything obtained from it to the Russian gunboat. But what
was in the safe, I asked? Fortunately? Nothing? But you see,
(12:09):
they knew that our squadron was due in Legorne, and
that some extremely important dispatches were on the way to
the Admiral secret orders based upon the decision of the
British Cabinet as to the vexed question of Russian ships
passing the Dardanelles. They expected that they would be lodged
in the safe until the arrival of the squadron, as
(12:29):
they always are. They were, however, bitterly disappointed because the
dispatches had not arrived, and then well, the only Russian
who appeared to have any connection with them was Baron Oberg,
the Governor General of Finland, whose habit it was to
spend part of the winter in the Mediterranean. From Almahis's
(12:51):
conversation at dinner that evening at Nice, I gathered that
she and her uncle had been guessed on the Iris
on several occasions, although I must say that Muriel was
extremely reticent regarding all that concerned the yacht. Of course,
she said quickly, now that I have told you the truth, Jack,
don't you think it was only natural? Most certainly, dear,
(13:12):
he answered, still holding her hand Yours was not a
secret that you could very well tell to me until
you could thoroughly trust me, especially as your father had
been implicated in the theft of those documents from Malta.
The truth is, he said, turning to me. Philip Lyfecourt
has all along been the cat's paw of Baron Oberg.
(13:33):
A few years ago. He was a well known money
lender in the city, and in that capacity met the Baron, who,
being in disgrace, required alone. He was also in the
habit of having certain shady transactions with that daring gang
of continental thieves, of whom Dick Archer and Hilton Chatter
were leaders. For this reason he purchased a yacht for
(13:55):
their use, so that they might not only use it
for the purpose of storing the goods, but for the
purpose of sailing from place to place under the guise
of wealthy Englishmen traveling for pleasure upon that vessel. Indeed
was stored thousands and thousands of pounds worth of jewels
and objects of value, the proceeds of many great robberies
(14:17):
in England, France and Belgium. Sometimes they traveled for the
purpose of disposing of the jewels in various inland towns
where the gems, having been recut, were not recognized, while
at other times Chatter and Archer, assisted by Mackintosh the
Captain and Olento Santini the stewart, sailed for a port landed,
(14:38):
committed a robbery, and then sailed away again, quite unsuspected
as rich englishmen and the crew, I asked after a pause,
They were, of course well paid, and were kept in
ignorance of what the supposed owner and his friends did assure.
But Oberg's connection with it, I asked. Surprised at those revelations,
(15:00):
Ah exclaimed Muriel. The ingenuity of that crafty villain is fiendish.
Before he got into the Czar's favor, he owed my
father a large sum, and then sought how to evade
repayment by means of his spies. He discovered the real
purpose of the cruises of the Iris for I was
often taken on board with a maid in order to
(15:21):
allay any suspicion that might arise if only men were cruising.
Then he not only compelled my father to cancel the debt,
but he impressed the vessel and those who owned it,
had navigated it into the Secret service of Russia. A
dozen times did we make attempts to obtain secret papers
from Italian, French and English dock yards. But only once
(15:44):
in the case of Malta, and once at Toulon, did
we succeed. Ah, mister Gregg, she added, you do not
know all the anxiety I suffered, how at every hour
we were in danger of betrayal or capture, and of
the hundred narrow escapes we have had of custom house
officers rummaging the yacht for contraband you will no doubt
(16:05):
recollect the sensation caused by the theft of the jewels
of the Princess Wilhelmine of Chamburg Lip from the lady's
maid in the rapide between Khan and Leyar, the robbery
from the Marseilles branch of the Credit Linnais, and the
Great Hall of Plate from the Chateau of Bardon. The
Paris millionaire close to our Khan. Yes, I said, for
(16:26):
they were all robberies of which I had read in
the newspapers a couple of years before. Well, she said,
they were all committed by archer or Woodruf and his gang,
with the compliccees of shore, of course, and never once
did it seem that any suspicion fell upon us. While
the police were frantically searching hither and thither, we used
(16:47):
to weigh anchor and calmly steam away with our booty.
On board. We had with us an old Dutch lapidary,
and one of the cabins was fitted as a workshop,
where he altered the appearance of the stones and prepared
them ready for sail, while the gold was melted in
a crucible and put ashore to be sent to agents
in Hamburg. But that night in le Gorn, I said,
(17:08):
what happened to poor Elma, I do not know was
Muriel's reply. We were both on board together and standing
at the crack of the door, watched you sitting at
dinner that evening. Alma told me that she believed that
there was a plot against your life. But why she
would not tell me? She evidently knew of the proposed
(17:29):
rifling of the safe at the council it Oberg himself
was also on board, locked in his own cabin. Alma
must have overheard some conversation between the Baron and one
of the others, for she was in great fear the
whole time lest they might injure you. Yet it seemed,
after all, as though their idea was the same as always,
(17:51):
to worm themselves into your confidence. The instant, however, you
went ashore, chatter Woodruff, whom you called Hornby, and Gintosh,
the captain, who, by the way, was an old ticket
of leave man when the shore, and of course broke
into the councilate. Then as soon as they returned, Alma
came to my cabin, awoke me and said that the
(18:13):
Baron was taking her ashore, and that they were to
travel over land back to London. She was ready dressed
to go. Therefore I kissed her, and, promising to meet
her soon, we parted. That was the last I saw
of her. What happened to her afterwards only she alone
can tell us. But she is not the Baron's niece,
(18:34):
I said, no, there is some mystery, declared Muriel. She
holds some secret, which he fears she may divulge. But
of what nature I am in ignorance. Then you say
that your father has never taken any active part in
the robberies, I remarked no. He commenced by lending money
and amassed a considerable fortune. Then avarice seized him, as
(18:59):
it does so many men, and coming into contact with
Archer and his friends, he saw that the idea of
the yacht was a safe and profitable one. Therefore he
purchased a vessel and ran it at the disposition of
the thieves, and subsequently under compulsion in the secret surface
of Russia. As I have already described to you, the
(19:20):
prophets were colossal. In one year, my father's share was
eighty thousand pounds. And where is your father now, I asked, Ah,
she exclaimed, sadly, her face hale and haggard. I have
heard that the vessel was scuttled somewhere in the Baltic
That is true. Oberg's purpose having been served, he demanded
(19:44):
half the property on board, or he would give notice
to the Russian naval authorities that the pirate yacht was afloat.
He attempted to blackmail my father as he had already
done so many times, but his scheme was frustrated. My father,
because of his inhuman treatment of poor Alma, defied him.
When it appears that Oberg, who was in Helsingfors telegraphed
(20:07):
to the admiral of the Russian fleet in the Baltic,
the crew from the Irish were at once landed at Riga,
and only Mackintosh and my father put to sea again.
Now my father was desperate, for he knew the merciless
character of that man whose victim he had been for
so long. They watched the Russian cruiser bearing down upon them,
(20:28):
when just as it drew near, they got off in
a boat and blew up the yacht, which sank in
three minutes with its ill obtained wealth on board, and
your father, She was silent, and I saw tears standing
in her eyes. There was a tragedy, Jack explained in
a low, hoarse voice. He and the captain did not,
(20:51):
unfortunately yet sufficiently far from the yacht when they blew
her up, and they went down with her. And I
looked in silence at Muriel, who stood with her head
bent and her white face covered with her hands. Almost
at the same time there was a low tap at
the door, and the servant maid announced mister Santini, miss
(21:13):
Ah exclaimed Jack quickly as Olinto entered the room. Then
you had my note. We have asked you here to
reveal to us this dastardly plot which seemed to have
been formed against mister Gregg and myself. As you know,
I have had a narrow escape. I know, Signor and
the Signor Commandentore is also threatened by whom, by those
(21:35):
who killed my poor wife, and who intended also to
silence me, was his answer. The same who compelled you
to take me to that house where the fatal chair
was prepared. Eh, it was Archer who, fearing that you
came to London in search of them, devised that devilish contrivance,
he said in his broken English. Then continuing, he went
(21:55):
on fiercely. Now that I have discovered why my poor
Armida was killed, I will tell the truth and not
spare them. Since you left Scotland, Signor, I have been
up in Dumfries and have discovered several facts which prove that,
for some reason known only to myself, Lifecourt while at
Rannach wrote to both Armida and myself separately making an
(22:18):
appointment to see us at the same time at that
spot on the edge of the wood, as he had
some secret commission to entrust to us. The letter addressed
to me apparently fell into some one else's hands, probably
one of the secret agents of Baron Oberg, who were
always watching Life Court's doings, and he, anxious to learn
what was intended, made himself up to look like me
(22:42):
and kept the appointment in my place. Armida, having received
the letter unknown to me, went up to Scotland and
was also there at the appointed time. What actually transpired
can only be surmised. Yet it seems that life Coourt
was in the habit of going up to that spot
and loitering there in the evening in order to meet
(23:02):
Chatter in secret, as the latter was in hiding in
a small hotel in Dumfries. Therefore, those who formed the
plot must have endeavored to throw suspicion upon life Court.
It is plain, however, as both myself and Armida knew
the gang, it was to their interest to get rid
of us, because the suspicions of the police had at
last become aroused. Who or Armidah was therefore deliberately enticed
(23:27):
there to her death, while the inquisitive man, whom the
assassin took to be myself, was also struck down by
whom not by chatter or he was in London on
that night, then by Woodruff. Dernford said, without a doubt
it was almost cleverly thought out. It was to his
advantage alone to close our lips, because in that same
(23:50):
fatal chair in lambeth Old Jacob Moser, the jew bullion
broker of Hatton Garden, met his death a most dastardly
crime with which none of his friends were associated, and
of which we alone held knowledge. He therefore wrote to
us as though from life Court, calling us up to
Rannoch in order to strike the blows in the darkness.
(24:11):
He added, in his peculiar Italian manner. Besides, he feared
we would tell the signor the truth you have not
told the police. I dare not signor. Surely the less
the police know about this matter, the better, Otherwise the
signorit the life Court must suffer for her father's avarice
and ill doing. Yes, cried Jack anxiously, that's right, o'linto.
(24:35):
The police must know nothing. The reprisals we must make ourselves.
But who was it who shot me in Suffolk Street?
The same man, Martin Woodrum. Then the assassin is back
from Russia. He followed closely behind the Signor Commandentour Markov,
a clever secret agent of Baron Oberg's, came with him. Then,
(24:56):
for the first time I recollected that the man I
had recooned in the strand was a fellow I had
seen lounging in the ante room of the Palace of
the Governor General of Finland. The pair, fearing that I
should reveal what I knew, were undoubtedly in London to
take my life in secret. Now that Lithecourt was dead,
Woodruff had united forces with Oberg and intended to silence
(25:20):
me because they feared that Elma, besides escaping them, had
also revealed her secret. I trust that the Senora Lithecourt
has explained the story of the yacht and its crew,
Olinto remarked, and has also shown you how I was implicated.
You will therefore discern the reason why I have hitherto
feared to give you any explanation. Yes, I said, Missus,
(25:43):
Lithecourt has told me a great deal, but not everything.
I cannot yet gather for what reason she and her
father fled from Rannoch. Then I will tell you, said
Muriel quickly. My father suspected Woodruff of being the assassin
in Rannoch Wood, for he knew that he had broken
away from the original compact and had now allied himself
(26:05):
with Obert. Yet it was also my father's object to
appear in fear of them, because he was only awaiting
an opportunity to lay plans for poor Elma's rescue from Finland. Therefore,
one evening Woodruf called and my father encountered him in
the avenue and admitted him with his own latch key
by one of the side doors of the castle, afterwards
(26:28):
taking him up to the study. He knew that he
had come to try and make terms for Obert. Therefore
he saw that he must fly at once to Newcastle,
where the Iris was lying yet on board, and sail
away with some excuse. He left him in the study,
and then warned my mother and myself to prepare to leave.
But while we were packing, it appeared that Chatter, who
(26:50):
had followed, was shown into the study by the butler,
or rather he entered there himself, being well acquainted with
the house. Thus the two men, now bitter enemies, met,
A fierce quarrel must have ensued, and chatter was poisoned
and concealed. Woodruf, of course, believing he had killed him.
My father entered the study again, and, seeing only Woodruff there,
(27:14):
did not know what had occurred. Some words probably arose
when my father again turned and left. Then we fled
to Carlyle, and on to Newcastle, and next morning were
on board the yacht out in the North Sea, afterwards
landing at Rotterdam. Those she added are briefly the facts
as my poor father related them to me. And what
(27:37):
of poor Alma and of her secret? When I wonder,
shall I see her? I cried in despair. You will
see her now, signor, answered Olinto, A servant of the
Princess Zulav, brought her to London this afternoon, and I
have just conveyed her from the station. She is in
the next room in ignorance, however, that you are here,
(27:57):
and without another word, I fled forward joyfully and threw
open the folding doors which separated me from my silent love. Silent, yes,
but she could nevertheless tell her storily. Surely the strangest
that any woman has ever lived to tell. End of
Chapter seventeen, recording by Tom Ways,
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