Summary
A chessboard of shadows unfurls beneath the vaults of the Bergreschloß, where wax-masked titans of Saxonia’s cloak-and-dade labyrinth wager a human life over brandy fumed with paranoia. At stake is their South American gambit crumbled by Yorke Norroy, an American silver-tongued fox masquerading as idle bon vivant. Into this gildentide walks Minna Ober, grief-armored, clutching the condemned name of her father. A trade is poisoned into existence: clemency for a corpse—Yorke’s corpse. At a champagne reception inside Washington’s drifting chandeliers father and daughter bait their quarry with flirtation wrapped in lace and peril. Yet Norroy registers danger the way a violin registers hush—through resonance. Forced into a padlocked salon and ordered to confess every sabotage on parchment, he writes with caligraphic elegance, buying time while a cigarette’s ember becomes fuse, mirror, and gunpowder. The smoke clears; the hostage becomes author of his own exit; his captors left with a letter of parchment and a sentence of flesh.
Synopsis
Episode 1: "The Last Cigarette" In the Bergenschloss the heads of Saxonia's secret service are in consultation over the fate of one of their men who has failed in his mission to a South American republic on account of the watchfulness of Yorke Norroy, a diplomatic agent and the cleverest man in the American secret service, who poses as a man of fashion. The Saxonian chiefs lay plans for his destruction. Minna Ober, whose father has been sentenced to death for murder, comes to plead for clemency. The chief offers the man a chance for his life if he will dispose of Yorke Norroy. Ober accepts. The papers have given publicity to the escape of Max Ober, and Huntley Carson, the confidant of Yorke Norroy, warns Norroy that Ober is after him. They attend the reception at the Saxonian embassy in Washington some time later and recognize Ober. Norroy is apparently absorbed in a flirtation with a stranger, who in reality is Minna Ober. Her father is counting upon her to lure Norroy to an empty house. Minna is successful. Norroy is roughly pushed into a room and falls. He rises, brushes his clothes, annoyed by the dust and Ober informs him that unless he discloses the history of his defeat of their plans he will be put to death. He insists upon Norroy's writing the story in detail. Norroy complies, but asks permission to smoke a cigarette. He takes out his case and sees in its polished surface that Ober gives directions to shoot him when he has finished writing. He lights a cigarette, and smokes it in the intervals of writing the story. Then he lays the cigarette on the table and proceeds. The cigarette explodes, and Norroy makes his escape. When the smoke has cleared away, Ober and his daughter read on the paper, "Tell your chief that Yorke Norroy sends Max Ober back to the Bergenschloss to pay the penalty."
