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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Passenger from Calais, by Arthur Griffiths
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Passenger from Calais
+
+Author: Arthur Griffiths
+
+Release Date: July 21, 2005 [EBook #16339]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSENGER FROM CALAIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               Works of
+                           ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
+
+          *       *       *       *       *
+
+                   The Passenger from Calais $1.25
+                   The Rome Express           1.25
+
+          *       *       *       *       *
+
+                          L.C. PAGE & COMPANY
+                  New England Building, Boston, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             The Passenger
+                              from Calais
+
+
+                          By Arthur Griffiths
+
+                  Author of "The Rome Express," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+                         Boston--L.C. Page and
+                          Company--Publishers
+
+
+                   _First Impression, January, 1906
+                    Second Impression, February, 1906
+                    Third Impression, February, 1906
+                    Fourth Impression, March, 1908_
+
+                            Colonial Press
+                         _C.H. Simonds & Co.
+                            Boston, U.S.A._
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+_I desire to state that the initial
+fact upon which I have founded
+this story is within my own experience.
+I travelled from Calais to
+Basle by the Engadine Express in
+the latter end of July, 1902, when
+my wife and myself were the only
+passengers. The rest is pure fiction._
+
+A.G.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+[_Colonel Annesley's Story_]
+
+
+The crossing from Dover to Calais had been rough; a drizzling rain
+fell all the time, and most of the passengers had remained below.
+Strange to say, they were few enough, as I saw on landing. It was a
+Sunday in late July, and there ought to have been a strong stream
+setting towards Central Europe. I hardly expected to find much room in
+the train; not that it mattered, for my place was booked through in
+the Lucerne sleeping-car of the Engadine express.
+
+Room! When I reached the siding where this train de luxe was drawn up,
+I saw that I was not merely the first but the only passenger. Five
+sleeping-cars and a dining-car attached, with the full staff,
+attendants, chef, waiters--all lay there waiting for me, and me
+alone.
+
+"Not very busy?" I said, with a laugh to the conductor.
+
+"_Parbleu_," replied the man, polyglot and cosmopolitan, like most of
+his class, but a Frenchman, or, more likely from his accent, a Swiss.
+"I never saw the like before."
+
+"I shall have a compartment to myself, then?"
+
+"Monsieur may have the whole carriage if he wishes--the whole five
+carriages. It is but to arrange." His eyes glistened at the prospect
+of something special in this obvious scarcity of coming tips.
+
+"The train will run, I hope? I am anxious to get on."
+
+"But assuredly it will run. Even without monsieur it would run. The
+carriages are wanted at the other end for the return journey. Stay,
+what have we here?"
+
+We stood talking together on the platform, and at some little distance
+from the railway station, the road to which was clear and open all the
+way, so that I could see a little party of four approaching us, and
+distinguish them. Two ladies, an official, probably one of the guards,
+and a porter laden with light luggage.
+
+As they came up I discreetly withdrew to my own compartment, the
+window of which was open, so that I could hear and see all that
+passed.
+
+"Can we have places for Lucerne?" It was asked in an eager, anxious,
+but very sweet voice, and in excellent French.
+
+"Places?" echoed the conductor. "Madame can have fifty."
+
+"What did I tell madame?" put in the official who had escorted her.
+
+"I don't want fifty," she replied, pettishly, crossly, "only two. A
+separate compartment for myself and maid; the child can come in with
+us."
+
+Now for the first time I noticed that the maid was carrying a bundle
+in her arms, the nature of which was unmistakable. The way in which
+she swung it to and fro rhythmically was that of a nurse and child.
+
+"If madame prefers, the maid and infant can be accommodated apart,"
+suggested the obliging conductor.
+
+But this did not please her. "No, no, no," she answered with much
+asperity. "I wish them to be with me. I have told you so already; did
+you not hear?"
+
+"_Parfaitement_, as madame pleases. Only, as the train is not
+full--very much the reverse indeed--only one other passenger, a
+gentleman--no more--"
+
+The news affected her strangely, and in two very different ways. At
+first a look of satisfaction came into her face, but it was quickly
+succeeded by one of nervous apprehension, amounting to positive fear.
+She turned to talk to her maid in English, while the conductor busied
+himself in preparing the tickets.
+
+"What are we to do, Philpotts?" This was said to the maid in English.
+"What if it should be--"
+
+"Oh, no, never! We can't turn back. You must face it out now. There is
+nothing to be afraid of, not in that way. I saw him, the gentleman, as
+we came up. He's quite a gentleman, a good-looking military-looking
+man, not at all the other sort--you know the sort I mean."
+
+Now while I accepted the compliment to myself, I was greatly mystified
+by the allusion to the "other sort of man."
+
+"You think we can go on, that it's safe, even in this empty train? It
+would have been so different in a crowd. We should have passed
+unobserved among a lot of people."
+
+"But then there would have been a lot of people to observe us; some
+one, perhaps, who knew you, some one who might send word."
+
+"I wish I knew who this passenger is. It would make me much easier in
+my mind. It might be possible perhaps to get him on our side if he is
+to go with us, at least to get him to help to take care of our
+treasure until I can hand it over. What a burden it is! It's terribly
+on my mind. I wonder how I could have done it. The mere thought makes
+me shiver. To turn thief! Me, a common thief!"
+
+"Stealing is common enough, and it don't matter greatly, so long as
+you're not found out. And you did it so cleverly too; with such a
+nerve. Not a soul could have equalled you at the business. You might
+have been at it all your life," said the maid, with affectionate
+familiarity, that of a humble performer paying tribute to a great
+artist in crime.
+
+She was a decent, respectable-looking body too, this confederate whom
+I concluded was masquerading as maid. The very opposite of the younger
+woman (about her more directly), a neatly dressed unassuming person,
+short and squat in figure, with a broad, plain, and, to the casual
+observer, honest face, slow in movement and of no doubt sluggish
+temperament, not likely to be moved or distressed by conscience,
+neither at the doing or the memory of evil deeds.
+
+Now the conductor came up and civilly bowed them towards their
+carriage, mine, which they entered at the other end as I left it
+making for the restaurant, not a little interested in what I had
+heard.
+
+Who and what could these two people be with whom I was so strangely
+and unexpectedly thrown? The one was a lady, I could hardly be
+mistaken in that; it was proved in many ways, voice, air, aspect, all
+spoke of birth and breeding, however much she might have fallen away
+from or forfeited her high station.
+
+She might have taken to devious practices, or been forced into them;
+whatever the cause of her present decadence she could not have been
+always the thief she now confessed herself. I had it from her own
+lips, she had acknowledged it with some show of remorse. There must
+surely have been some excuse for her, some overmastering temptation,
+some extreme pressure exercised irresistibly through her emotions, her
+affections, her fears.
+
+What! this fair creature a thief? This beautiful woman, so richly
+endowed by nature, so outwardly worthy of admiration, a despicable
+degraded character within? It was hard to credit it. As I still
+hesitated, puzzled and bewildered, still anxious to give her the
+benefit of the doubt, she came to the door of the buffet where I was
+now seated at lunch, and allowed me to survey her more curiously and
+more at leisure.
+
+"A daughter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinely fair."
+
+The height and slimness of her graceful figure enhanced by the
+tight-fitting tailor-made ulster that fell straight from collar to
+heel; her head well poised, a little thrown back with chin in the air,
+and a proud defiant look in her undeniably handsome face. Fine eyes of
+darkest blue, a well-chiseled nose with delicate, sensitive nostrils,
+a small mouth with firm closely compressed lips, a wealth of glossy
+chestnut hair, gathered into a knot under her tweed travelling cap.
+
+As she faced me, looking straight at me, she conveyed the impression
+of a determined unyielding character, a woman who would do much, dare
+much, who would go her own road if so resolved, undismayed and
+undeterred by any difficulties that might beset her.
+
+Then, to my surprise, although I might have expected it, she came and
+seated herself at a table close to my elbow. She had told her
+companion that she wanted to know more about me, that she would like
+to enlist me in her service, questionable though it might be, and here
+she was evidently about to make the attempt. It was a little
+barefaced, but I admit that I was amused by it, and not at all
+unwilling to measure swords with her. She was presumably an
+adventuress, clever, designing, desirous of turning me round her
+finger, but she was also a pretty woman.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she began almost at once in English, when the
+waiter had brought her a plate of soup, and she was toying with the
+first spoonful, speaking in a low constrained, almost sullen voice, as
+though it cost her much to break through the _convenances_ in thus
+addressing a stranger.
+
+"You will think it strange of me," she went on, "but I am rather
+awkwardly situated, in fact in a position of difficulty, even of
+danger, and I venture to appeal to you as a countryman, an English
+officer."
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked, quickly concluding that my light
+baggage had been subjected to scrutiny, and wondering what subterfuge
+she would adopt to explain it.
+
+"It is easy to see that. Gentlemen of your cloth are as easily
+recognizable as if your names were printed on your back."
+
+"And as they are generally upon our travelling belongings." I looked
+at her steadily with a light laugh, and a crimson flush came on her
+face. However hardened a character, she had preserved the faculty of
+blushing readily and deeply, the natural adjunct of a cream-like
+complexion.
+
+"Let me introduce myself in full," I said, pitying her obvious
+confusion; and I handed her my card, which she took with a shamefaced
+air, rather foreign to her general demeanour.
+
+"Lieut.-Colonel Basil Annesley, Mars and Neptune Club," she read
+aloud. "What was your regiment?"
+
+"The Princess Ulrica Rifles, but I left it on promotion. I am
+unattached for the moment, and waiting for reëmployment."
+
+"Your own master then?"
+
+"Practically, until I am called upon to serve. I hope to get a staff
+appointment. Meanwhile I am loafing about Europe."
+
+"Do you go beyond Lucerne?"
+
+"Across the St. Gothard certainly, and as far as Como, perhaps beyond.
+And you? Am I right in supposing we are to be fellow travellers by the
+Engadine express?" I went on by way of saying something. "To Lucerne
+or further?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+"Probably." The answer was given with great hesitation. "If I go by
+this train at all, that is to say."
+
+"Have you any doubts?"
+
+"Why, yes. To tell you the truth, I dread the journey. I have been
+doing so ever since--since I felt it must be made. Now I find it ever
+so much worse than I expected."
+
+"Why is that, if I may ask?"
+
+"You see, I am travelling alone, practically alone that is to say,
+with only my maid."
+
+"And your child," I added rather casually, with no second thought, and
+I was puzzled to understand why the chance phrase evoked another vivid
+blush.
+
+"The child! Oh, yes, the child," and I was struck that she did not say
+"my" child, but laid rather a marked stress on the definite article.
+
+"That of course increases your responsibility," I hazarded, and she
+seized the suggestion.
+
+"Quite so. You see how I am placed. The idea of going all that way in
+an empty train quite terrifies me."
+
+"I don't see why it should."
+
+"But just think. There will be no one in it, no one but ourselves. We
+two lone women and you, single-handed. Suppose the five attendants and
+the others were to combine against us? They might rob and murder us."
+
+"Oh, come, come. You must not let foolish fears get the better of your
+common sense. Why should they want to make us their victims? I believe
+they are decent, respectable men, the employes of a great company,
+carefully selected. At any rate, I am not worth robbing, are you? Have
+you any special reason for fearing thieves? Ladies are perhaps a
+little too reckless in carrying their valuables about with them. Your
+jewel-case may be exceptionally well lined."
+
+"Oh, but it is not; quite the contrary," she cried with almost
+hysterical alacrity. "I have nothing to tempt them. And yet something
+dreadful might happen; I feel we are quite at their mercy."
+
+"I don't. I tell you frankly that I think you are grossly exaggerating
+the situation. But if you feel like that, why not wait? Wait over for
+another train, I mean?"
+
+I am free to confess that, although my curiosity had been aroused, I
+would much rather have washed my hands of her, and left her and her
+belongings, especially the more compromising part, the mysterious
+treasure, behind at Calais.
+
+"Is there another train soon?" she inquired nervously.
+
+"Assuredly--by Boulogne. It connects with the train from Victoria at
+2.20 and the boat from Folkestone. You need only run as far as
+Boulogne with this Engadine train, and wait there till it starts. I
+think about 6 P.M."
+
+"Will that not lose time?"
+
+"Undoubtedly you will be two hours later at Basle, and you may lose
+the connection with Lucerne and the St. Gothard if you want to get on
+without delay. To Naples I think you said?"
+
+"I did not say Naples. You said you were going to Naples," she replied
+stiffly. "I did not mention my ultimate destination."
+
+"Perhaps not. I have dreamt it. But I do not presume to inquire where
+you are going, and I myself am certainly not bound for Naples. But if
+I can be of no further use to you I will make my bow. It is time for
+me to get back to the train, and for my part I don't in the least want
+to lose the Engadine express."
+
+She got up too, and walked out of the buffet by my side.
+
+"I shall go on, at any rate as far as Boulogne," she volunteered,
+without my asking the question; and we got into our car together, she
+entering her compartment and I mine. I heard her door bang, but I kept
+mine still open.
+
+I smoked many cigarettes pondering over the curious episode and my new
+acquaintance. How was I to class her? A young man would have sworn she
+was perfectly straight, that there could be no guile in this
+sweet-faced, gentle, well-mannered woman; and I, with my greater
+experience of life and the sex, was much tempted to do the same. It
+was against the grain to condemn her as all bad, a depredator, a woman
+with perverted moral sense who broke the law and did evil things.
+
+But what else could I conclude from the words I had heard drop from
+her own lips, strengthened and confirmed as they were by the
+incriminating language of her companion?
+
+"Bother the woman and her dark blue eyes. I wish I'd never come across
+her. A fine thing, truly, to fall in love with a thief. I hope to
+heaven she will really leave the train at Boulogne; we ought to be
+getting near there by now."
+
+I had travelled the road often enough to know it by heart, and I
+recognized our near approach only to realize that the train did not
+mean to stop. I turned over the leaves of Bradshaw and saw I had been
+mistaken; the train skirted Boulogne and never entered the station.
+
+"Well, that settles it for the present, anyhow. If she still wants to
+leave the train she must wait now until Amiens. That ought to suit her
+just as well."
+
+But it would not; at least, she lost no time in expressing her
+disappointment at not being able to alight at Boulogne.
+
+We had hardly passed the place when her maid's (or companion's) square
+figure filled the open doorway of my compartment, and in her strong
+deep voice she addressed a brief summons to me brusquely and
+peremptorily:
+
+"My lady wishes to speak to you."
+
+"And pray what does 'my lady' want with me?" I replied carelessly,
+using the expression as a title of rank.
+
+"She is not 'my lady,' but 'my' lady, my mistress, and simply Mrs.
+Blair." The correction and information were vouchsafed with cold
+self-possession. "Are you coming?"
+
+"I don't really see why I should," I said, not too civilly. "Why
+should I be at her beck and call? If she had been in any trouble, any
+serious trouble, such as she anticipated when talking to me at the
+buffet, and a prey to imaginary alarms since become real, I should
+have been ready to serve her or any woman in distress, but nothing of
+this could have happened in the short hour's run so far."
+
+"I thought you were a gentleman," was the scornful rejoinder. "A nice
+sort of gentleman, indeed, to sit there like a stock or a stone when a
+lady sends for you!"
+
+"A lady!" There was enough sarcasm in my tone to bring a flush upon
+her impassive face, a fierce gleam of anger in her stolid eyes; and
+when I added, "A fine sort of lady!" I thought she would have struck
+me. But she did no more than hiss an insolent gibe.
+
+"You call yourself an officer, a colonel? I call you a bounder, a
+common cad."
+
+"Be off!" I was goaded into crying, angrily. "Get away with you; I
+want to have nothing more to say to you or your mistress. I know what
+you are and what you have been doing, and I prefer to wash my hands of
+you both. You're not the kind of people I like to deal with or wish to
+know."
+
+She stared at me open-mouthed, her hands clenched, her eyes half out
+of her head. Her face had gone deadly white, and I thought she would
+have fallen there where she stood, a prey to impotent rage.
+
+Now came a sudden change of scene. The lady, Mrs. Blair, as I had just
+heard her called, appeared behind, her taller figure towering above
+the maid's, her face in full view, vexed with varying acute emotions,
+rage, grief, and terror combined.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+"What's all this?" she cried in great agitation. "Wait, do not speak,
+Philpotts, leave him to me.... Do you go back to our place this
+instant; we cannot be away together, you know that; _it_ must not be
+left alone, one of us must be on guard over it. Hurry, hurry, I never
+feel that _it_ is safe out of our sight.
+
+"Now, sir," Mrs. Blair turned on me fiercely, "will you be so good as
+to explain how I find you quarrelling with my maid, permitting
+yourself to cast aspersions, to make imputations upon two unprotected
+women?"
+
+"How much have you overheard?" I asked, feeling very small already. My
+self-reproach was aroused even before I quailed under the withering
+contempt of her tone.
+
+"Enough to expect ample apology. How dare you, how dare you say such
+things? What you may imagine, what unworthy idea you may have formed,
+is beyond me to guess, but you can know nothing. You can have no real
+reason for condemning me."
+
+"Let me admit that, and leave the matter there," I pleaded. I could
+not bring myself to tell her that she was self-condemned, that she was
+the principal witness against herself. It would have been too cruel,
+ungenerous, to take an unfair advantage. Why should I constitute
+myself her judge?
+
+She looked at me very keenly, her eyes piercing me through and
+through. I felt that she was penetrating my inmost thoughts and
+turning me inside out.
+
+"I will not leave it at that. I insist upon your speaking plainly. I
+must know what is in your mind."
+
+"And if I refuse, distinctly, positively, categorically; if I deny
+your contention, and protest that I have nothing to tell you?"
+
+"I shall not believe you. Come, please, let there be no more evasion.
+I must have it out. I shall stay here until you tell me what you think
+of me, and why."
+
+She seated herself by my side in the narrow velvet seat of the small
+compartment, so close that the folds of her tweed skirt (she had
+removed her ulster) touched and rubbed against me. I was invaded by
+the sweet savour of her gracious presence (she used some delightful
+scent, _violette ideale_, I believe), by putting forth my hand a few
+inches I might have taken hers in mine. She fixed her eyes on me with
+an intent unvarying gaze that under other conditions would have been
+intoxicating, but was now no more than disquieting and embarrassing.
+
+As I was still tongue-tied, she returned to her point with resolute
+insistence.
+
+"Come, Colonel Annesley, how long is this to go on? I want and will
+have an explanation. Why have you formed such a bad opinion of me?"
+
+"How do you know I have done so?" I tried to fence and fight with her,
+but in vain.
+
+"I cannot be mistaken. I myself heard you tell my maid that you wished
+to have nothing to say to us, that we were not your sort. Well! why is
+that? How do I differ from the rest of--your world, let us call it?"
+
+"You do not, as far as I can see. At least you ought to hold your own
+anywhere, in any society, the very best."
+
+"And yet I'm not 'your sort.' Am I a humbug, an impostor, an
+adventuress, a puppet and play-actress? Or is it that I have
+forfeited my right, my rank of gentlewoman, my position in the world,
+your world?"
+
+I was silent, moodily, obstinately silent. She had hit the blot, and
+could put but one interpretation upon it. I saw she guessed I knew
+something. Not how much, perhaps, but something to her discredit. She
+still was not satisfied; she would penetrate my reserve, overcome my
+reticence, have it out of me willy nilly, whether I would or no.
+
+"You cannot surely refuse me? I have my reasons for desiring to know
+the very worst."
+
+"Why drive me to that?" I schooled myself to seem hard and
+uncompromising. I felt I was weakening under the subtle charm of her
+presence, and the pretty pleading of her violet eyes; but I was still
+resolute not to give way.
+
+"If you will only tell me why you think such evil I may be able to
+justify myself, or at least explain away appearances that are against
+me."
+
+"You admit there are such appearances? Remember, I never said so."
+
+"Then on what do you condemn me? You do condemn me, I am certain of
+it," she insisted, seeing my gesture of negation. "Are you treating
+me fairly, chivalrously, as a gentleman and a man of honour should?
+How can you reconcile it to your conscience?"
+
+"Some people talk very lightly of conscience, or use it when it is an
+empty meaningless word," I said severely.
+
+"You imply that I have no conscience, or that I should feel the
+qualms, the prickings of conscience?"
+
+"After what you've done, yes," I blurted out.
+
+"What have I done? What do you know of it, or what led me to do it?
+How dare you judge me without knowing the facts, without a shadow of
+proof?" She sprang to her feet and passed to the door, where she
+turned, as it were, at bay.
+
+"I have the very best proof, from your own lips. I heard you and your
+maid talking together at Calais."
+
+"A listener, Colonel Annesley? Faugh!"
+
+"It was forced on me. You stood under my window there." I defended
+myself indignantly. "I wish to heaven I had never heard. I did not
+want to know; your secrets are your own affair."
+
+"And my actions, I presume?" she put in with superb indifference.
+
+"And their consequences, madam," but the shot failed rather of effect.
+She merely smiled and shook her head recklessly, contemptuously. Was
+she so old a hand, so hardened in crime, that the fears of detection,
+arrest, reprisals, the law and its penalties had no effect upon her?
+Undoubtedly at Calais she was afraid; some misgiving, some haunting
+terror possessed her. Now, when standing before me fully confessed for
+what she was, and practically at my mercy, she could laugh with cool
+and unabashed levity and make little of the whole affair.
+
+If I had hoped that I had done with her now, when the murder was out,
+I was very much mistaken. She had some further designs on me, I was
+sure. She wanted to make use of me, how or in what way I could not
+imagine; but I soon perceived that she was anxious to be friends. The
+woman was in the ascendant, and, as I thought, the eternal feminine
+ever agog to attract and subjugate the male, she would conquer my
+admiration even if she could not secure my esteem.
+
+Suddenly, and quite without my invitation or encouragement, she
+reseated herself by my side.
+
+"See, Colonel Annesley, let us come to an understanding." She said it
+quite gaily and with no shadow of apprehension left in her, not a sign
+of shame or remorse in her voice. Her mood had entirely changed. She
+was _débonnaire_, frolicsome, overflowing with fun.
+
+"What do you mean to do? Give me into custody? Call in the gendarmes
+at the next station? Have me taken red-handed with the--stolen
+property--the 'swag,' you know the word, perhaps, in my possession?"
+
+"I am not a police officer; it's not my business," I answered gruffly.
+I thought this flippancy very much misplaced.
+
+"Or you might telegraph back to England, to London, to Scotland Yard:
+'The woman Blair in the Engadine express. Wire along the line to
+authorities, French and Swiss, to look out for her and arrest
+preparatory to extradition.'"
+
+"I would much rather not continue this conversation, Mrs. Blair."
+
+"I am not 'Mrs. Blair,'" she cried, laughing merrily as at a
+tremendous joke. "It is only one of my aliases. I am better known as
+Slippery Sue, and the Countess of Plantagenet, and the Sly American,
+and dashing Mrs. Mortimer, and--"
+
+"Oh, please, please spare me. It does not matter, not a row of pins,
+what you are called. I would rather not have the whole list," I
+interrupted her, but could not check her restless tongue.
+
+"You shall hear, you must know all about me and my famous exploits. I
+was the heroine of that robbery at Buckingham Palace. I was at the
+State Ball, and made a fine harvest of jewels. I have swept a dozen
+country-houses clean; I have picked pockets and lifted old lace from
+the shop counters, and embezzled and forged--"
+
+"And turned pirate, and held up trains, and robbed the Bank of
+England," I added, falling into her humour and laughing as she rose to
+her full height; and again her mood changed, dominating me with
+imperious air, her voice icily cold in manner, grave and repellent.
+
+"Why not? I am a thief; you believe me to be a common thief."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+I was too much taken aback to do better than stammer out helplessly,
+hopelessly, almost unintelligibly, a few words striving to remind her
+of her own admission. Nothing, indeed, could take the sting out of
+this, and yet it was all but impossible to accuse her, to blame her
+even for what she had done.
+
+She read that in my eyes, in my abashed face, my hands held out
+deprecating her wrath, and her next words had a note of conciliation
+in them.
+
+"There are degrees of wrong-doing, shades of guilt," she said.
+"Crimes, offences, misdeeds, call them as you please, are not
+absolutely unpardonable; in some respects they are excusable, if not
+justifiable. Do you believe that?"
+
+"I should like to do so in your case," I replied gently. "You know I
+am still quite in the dark."
+
+"And you must remain so, for the present at any rate," she said
+firmly and sharply. "I can tell you nothing, I am not called upon to
+do it indeed. We are absolute strangers, I owe you no explanation, and
+I would give you none, even if you asked."
+
+"I have not asked and shall not ask anything."
+
+"Then you are willing to take it so, to put the best construction on
+what you have heard, to forget my words, to surrender your
+suspicions?"
+
+"If you will tell me only this: that I may have confidence in you,
+that I may trust you, some day, to enlighten me and explain what seems
+so incomprehensible to-day."
+
+"I am sorely tempted to do so now," she paused, lost for a time in
+deep and anxious thought; and then, after subjecting me to a long and
+intent scrutiny, she shook her head. "No, it cannot be, not yet. You
+must earn the right to my confidence, you must prove to me that you
+will not misuse it. There are others concerned; I am not speaking for
+myself alone. You must have faith in me, believe in me or let it be."
+
+She had beaten me, conquered me. I was ready to be her slave with
+blind, unquestioning obedience.
+
+"As you think best. I will abide by your decision. Tell me all or
+nothing. If the first I will help you, if the latter I will also help
+you as far as lies in my power."
+
+"Without conditions?" And when I nodded assent such a smile lit up her
+face that more than repaid me, and stifled the doubts and qualms that
+still oppressed me. But, bewitched by the sorcery of her bright eyes,
+I said bravely:
+
+"I accept service--I am yours to command. Do with me what you please."
+
+"Will you give me your hand on it?" She held out hers, gloveless,
+white and warm, and it lay in mine just a second while I pressed it to
+my lips in token of fealty and submission.
+
+"You shall be my knight and champion, and I say it seriously. I may
+call you to fight for me, at least to defend and protect me in my
+present undertaking. The way is by no means clear. I cannot foresee
+what may happen on this journey. There are risks, dangers before me. I
+may ask you to share them. Do you repent already?"
+
+She had been watching me closely for any sign of wavering, but I
+showed none, whatever I might feel in my inmost heart.
+
+"I shall not disappoint you," was what I said, and, in a firm assured
+voice, added, "You have resolved then to travel forward in this
+train?"
+
+"I must, I have no choice. I dare not tarry by the way. But I no
+longer feel quite alone and unprotected. If trouble arises, I tell you
+candidly I shall try to throw it on you."
+
+"From what quarter do you anticipate it?" I asked innocently enough.
+"You expect to be pursued, I presume?"
+
+She held up a warning finger.
+
+"That is not in the compact. You are not to be inquisitive. Ask me no
+questions, please, but wait on events. For the present you must be
+satisfied so, and there is nothing more to be said."
+
+"I shall see you again, I trust," I pleaded, as she rose to leave me.
+
+"If you wish, by all means. Why should we not dine together in the
+dining-car by and by?" she proposed with charming frankness, in the
+lighter mood that sat so well upon her. "The waiters will be there to
+play propriety, and no Mrs. Grundy within miles."
+
+"Or your maid might be chaperon at an adjoining table."
+
+"Philpotts? Impossible! She cannot leave--she must remain on duty; one
+of us must be in charge always. Who knows what might happen when our
+backs were turned? We might lose it--it might be abstracted. Horrible
+thought after all it has cost us."
+
+"'It' has evidently an extraordinary value in your eyes. If only I
+might be allowed to--" know more, I would have said, but she chose to
+put other words into my mouth.
+
+"To join us in the watching? Take your turn of 'sentry go'--isn't that
+your military term? Become one of us, belong to a gang of thieves,
+liable like the rest of us to the law? Ah, that would be trying you
+too far. I see your face fall."
+
+"I am ready to do much to serve you. I would gladly help you, see you
+through any difficulty by the way, but I'm afraid I must draw the line
+at active partnership," I answered a little lamely under her mocking
+eyes. Once more, as suddenly as before, she veered round.
+
+"There is a limit, then, to your devotion?" She was coldly sarcastic
+now, and I realized painfully that I had receded in her favour. "I
+must not expect unhesitating self-sacrifice? So be it; it is well to
+know how far I may go. I sincerely hope I may have no need of you at
+all. How thankful I am that I never let you into my secrets! Good
+afternoon," and with a contemptuous whisk of her skirts and a laugh,
+she was gone.
+
+"I'll have nothing more to say to her," I cried in great heat, vexed
+and irritated beyond measure at her capricious temper. I should only
+be dragged into some pitfall, some snare, some dire unpleasantness.
+But what did I know of her real character? What of my first doubts and
+suspicions? She had by no means dispelled them. She had only
+bamboozled me by her insinuating ways, had drawn me on by her guileful
+cleverness to pity and promises to befriend her. I had accorded her an
+active sympathy which in my more sober moments I felt she did not,
+could not, deserve; if I were not careful she would yet involve me in
+some inextricable mess.
+
+So for half an hour I abused her fiercely; I swore at myself hotly as
+an ass, a hopeless and unmitigated ass, ever ready to be betrayed and
+beguiled by woman's wiles, the too easy victim of the first pretty
+face I saw. The fit lasted for quite half an hour, and then came the
+reaction. I heard her rich deep voice singing in my ears, I felt the
+haunting glamour of her eyes, remembered her gracious presence, and my
+heart went out to her. I was so sorry for her: how could I cast her
+off? How could I withhold my countenance if she were in real distress?
+She was a woman--a weak, helpless woman; I could not desert and
+abandon her. However reprehensible her conduct might have been, she
+had a claim to my protection from ill-usage, and I knew in my heart
+that she might count upon a good deal more. I knew, of course, that I
+ought not to stand between her and the inevitable Nemesis that awaits
+upon misdeeds, but what if I helped her to avoid or escape it?
+
+The opportunity was nearer at hand than I thought. My kindly
+intentions, bred of my latest sentiments towards Mrs. Blair, were soon
+to be put to the test.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The train reached Amiens punctually at 5 P.M., and a stoppage
+of five minutes was announced. I got out to stretch my legs on the
+platform. No one took much notice of us; it must have been known that
+the train was empty, for there were no waiters from the buffet with
+_café au lait_ or fruit, or _brioches_--no porters about, or other
+officials.
+
+I had not expected to see any passengers come on board the train, a
+through express, made up of sleeping-cars and a supplementary charge
+on the tickets. But on running into the station (ours was the first
+carriage) I had noticed a man standing with a valise in his hand, and
+I saw him following the train down the platform when we stopped. He
+addressed himself to a little group of conductors who had already
+alighted, and were gossiping idly among themselves, having nothing
+else to do. One of them indicated our particular attendant, to whom
+he spoke, and who brought him directly to our carriage.
+
+Evidently the newcomer was bound for Lucerne _via_ Basle. Here was one
+more occupant of our neglected train, another companion and fellow
+traveller in our nearly empty sleeping-car. Curiosity and something
+more led me to examine this man closely; it was a strange, undefined,
+inexplicable sense of foreboding, of fateful forecast, that he and I
+were destined to be thrown together unpleasantly, to be much mixed up
+with one another, and to the comfort and satisfaction of neither.
+
+Who and what was he? His position in life, his business, trade or
+calling were not to be easily fixed; a commercial man, an agent or
+"traveller" on his own account, well-to-do and prosperous, was the
+notion borne out by his dress, his white waistcoat and coloured shirt
+of amazing pattern (a hint of his Italian origin), his rings and the
+showy diamond pin in his smart necktie.
+
+I added to this, my first impression, by further observation, for
+which I soon had abundant opportunity. When the train moved on, he
+came and took his seat on the flap seat (or _strapontin_) just
+opposite my compartment. I could not tell why, until presently he
+made overtures of sociability and began a desultory talk across the
+corridor. My cabin or compartment, it will be remembered, was the last
+but one; the newcomer had been given the one behind mine, and here
+from his seat he commanded the whole length of the carriage forward,
+which included the compartment occupied by Mrs. Blair and her party.
+
+I cannot say that I liked his looks or was greatly attracted by him.
+He was not prepossessing. Fair, with a flaccid unwholesome complexion,
+foxy haired, his beard cut to a point, small moustaches curled upward
+showing thin pale lips, and giving his mouth a disagreeable curve also
+upwards, a sort of set smile that was really a sardonic sneer,
+conveying distrust and disbelief in all around. His eyes were so deep
+set as to be almost lost in their recesses behind his sandy eyelashes,
+and he kept them screwed up close, with the intent watchful gaze of an
+animal about to make a spring. His whole aspect, his shifty, restless
+manner, his furtive looks, all were antipathetic and to his great
+advantage. I did not take to him at all, and plainly showed him that
+I had no desire for his talk or his company.
+
+It was not easy to shake him off, however. He would take no offence; I
+was cold to positive rudeness, I snubbed him unmercifully; I did not
+answer his remarks or his questions, which were incessant and
+shamelessly inquisitorial. Nothing disconcerted him. I had all but
+shut the door of my compartment in his face, but it suddenly occurred
+to me that he was capable of wandering on, and when he found the
+ladies inflicting his greasy attentions upon them.
+
+I felt that I had better submit to his unpalatable society than let
+him bore Mrs. Blair with his colossal impudence.
+
+How right I was in this became at once apparent. He had taken out a
+cigar-case and pressed one upon me with such pertinacious, offensive
+familiarity that I could see no way out of it than by saying
+peremptorily:
+
+"You cannot smoke here. There are ladies in that compartment yonder."
+
+"Ladies indeed! You surprise me," but I saw a look on his face that
+convinced me he perfectly well knew they were there. "Ladies, aha! How
+many, may I ask?"
+
+"One at least, with her maid and a child," I replied gruffly.
+
+"And a child," he repeated, as if by rote. "Does monsieur, tell me
+quickly, I--I--beg--know them! Can he describe them to me?"
+
+"I shall tell you nothing about them. What the mischief do you mean by
+asking me questions? Find out what you want for yourself." I was hot
+and indignant with the brute.
+
+"By George, you're right. I'll go and ask for leave to smoke. I shall
+find out then," and he jumped up, the spring seat closing with a bang
+from under him.
+
+The noise concealed the sound of the electric bell which I had pressed
+to summon the attendant, as I rushed out and caught the other man by
+the arm.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind," I cried with very vigorous emphasis,
+backed by all my strength. "I'll shake you to a jelly if you dare to
+move another inch."
+
+"Here, I say, drop it. Who the deuce are you? None of your bally
+nonsense. Hands off, or I'll make you."
+
+But he was too soft and flabby to avail much, and I dragged him back
+helplessly with tightened grip, only too delighted to try conclusions
+with him.
+
+At this moment the conductor appeared upon the scene, and began to
+expostulate loudly.
+
+"Here, I say, what's all this? It can't be allowed. No fighting and
+quarrelling are permitted."
+
+"Well, then, people must behave themselves," I retorted. "Don't let
+this chap annoy your passengers."
+
+"I have done nothing to annoy them," stammered the other. "You shall
+answer for this. I've done no harm."
+
+"I'll see you don't. Get in there and stay there;" and with that I
+forced him, almost flung him, into his compartment, where he fell
+panting upon the velvet sofa.
+
+"You'd better keep an eye on him," I said to the conductor, who was
+inclined to be disagreeable, and was barely pacified by a couple of
+five-franc pieces. "Fellows of this sort are apt to be a nuisance, and
+we must take care of the ladies."
+
+As I said this I saw Mrs. Blair's face peering out beyond her door a
+little nervously, but she ventured to come right out and along the
+passage towards me.
+
+"What has happened? I heard some noise, high words, a scuffle."
+
+"Some ruffian who got in at Amiens, and who has had to be taught
+manners. I told him not to smoke here, and he wanted to intrude
+himself upon you, which I prevented, a little forcibly."
+
+"Where is he? In here?" and she followed the indication of my thumb as
+I jerked it back, and looked over my shoulder into the compartment.
+
+"Ah!" The ejaculation was involuntary, and one of acute painful
+surprise, the gesture that accompanied it spontaneous and full of
+terror.
+
+"That man! that man!" she gasped. "He must not see me; let me go, let
+me go!"
+
+But her strength failed her, and but for my supporting arm she would
+have fallen to the ground. Half-fainting, I led her back to her own
+compartment, where her maid received her tenderly and with comforting
+words. There was clearly a strong bond of affection between these two,
+possibly companions and confederates in wrong-doing; the delicate and
+refined woman, tormented by the inner qualms of outraged conscience,
+relied and leant upon the stronger and more resolute nature.
+
+"What's come to you, ma'am? There, there, don't give way," said the
+maid, softly coaxing her and stroking her hands.
+
+"Oh, Philpotts, fancy! He is there! Falfani, the--the--you know--"
+
+Of course I saw it all now. Stupid ass! I might have guessed it all
+along. I had puzzled my brains vainly trying to place him, to fix his
+quality and condition in life, neglecting the one simple obvious
+solution to which so many plain indications pointed. The man, of
+course, was a detective, an officer or private agent, and his dirty
+business--you see, I was already shaken in my honesty, and now with
+increasing demoralization under seductive influences I was already
+inclined to cross over to the other side of the frontier of crime--his
+dirty business was the persecution of my sweet friend.
+
+"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Blair, her nervous trepidation
+increasing. "I begin to think we shall fail, we cannot carry it
+through, we shall lose our treasure. It will be taken from us."
+
+"You cannot, you must not, shall not turn back now," said the maid
+with great determination. "We must devise something, some way, of
+outwitting this Falfani. We did it before, we must do it again. After
+all he has no power over us; we are in France and shall be in
+Switzerland by daylight."
+
+"We ought to go on, you think? Wouldn't it be better to slip out of
+the train at the first station and run away?"
+
+"He would do the same. He does not intend to let us out of his sight.
+And how much the better should we be? It would be far worse; we should
+be much more at his mercy if we left the train. The journey would
+still have to be made; we must get to the end, the very end, or we'd
+better not have started."
+
+"He will know then, if he sticks to us. We cannot hide it from him,
+nor where we have taken it; we shall never be able to keep it, they
+will come and claim it and recover it;" and she cried hysterically: "I
+cannot see my way; it's all dark, black as night. I wish--I wish--"
+
+"That you had never done it?" quickly asked the maid; and I noticed a
+slight sarcasm in her tone that was not without its effect in bracing
+up and strengthening her companion's shattered nerves.
+
+"No, no, no; I do not regret it, and I never shall. I did it
+deliberately, counting the cost fully, and it shall be paid, however
+heavy it may be. It is not regret that tortures me, but the fear of
+failure when so near success."
+
+"We will succeed yet. Do not be cast down, my sweet dear." The maid
+patted her on the cheek with great affection. "We shall find a way.
+This gentleman, the colonel here, will help us, perhaps."
+
+"Will you?" Who could resist her pleading voice and shining eyes? If I
+had had any scruples left I would have thrown them to the winds.
+
+"Whatever lies in my power to do shall be done without stint or
+hesitation," I said solemnly, careless of all consequences, content to
+hold her hand and earn her heartfelt thanks. What though I were
+pawning my honour?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+[_The Statement of Domenico Falfani, confidential agent,
+made to his employers, Messrs. Becke and Co., of the Private
+Inquiry Offices, 279 St. Martin's Lane, W.C._]
+
+
+I propose, gentlemen, to set down here at length the story of my
+mission, and the events which befell me from the time I first received
+my instructions. You desired me to pursue and call to strict account a
+certain lady of title, who had fallen away from her high estate and
+committed an act of rank felony. The circumstances which led up to her
+disappearance and the partners of her flight are already well known to
+you.
+
+The only indication given me, as you are aware, was that I might take
+it for granted that she would go abroad and probably by the most
+direct route to the South, to Switzerland and across the Alps into
+Italy. My orders having only reached me in the early morning, the
+theft having presumably been committed during the night previous to
+Sunday, September 21, I was unable to ascertain through the tourist
+agencies whether any and what tickets had been booked in the
+directions indicated.
+
+My most urgent duty then was to watch the outgoing Continental trains,
+the first of which left Charing Cross for Dover and Calais at 9
+A.M. I closely watched it therefore, and its passengers, and
+travelled with it to Cannon Street, where I continued my search, but
+without result. I was greatly helped in my quest by the not unusual
+fact noticeable on Sundays, that travellers abroad are few in number.
+
+I had no difficulty in satisfying myself that the lady and her party
+were not in this train, and I returned at once to Charing Cross in
+time for the second Continental train, the 10 A.M.
+
+I had resolved to book myself by that as far as Amiens, for I knew
+that, once there, I should have reached a central point or junction, a
+sort of throat through which every train moving southward to Paris or
+Switzerland must pass.
+
+There remained, of course, the route via Dover by Ostend and through
+Brussels; but I had been informed by you that Ludovic Tiler, my
+colleague and coworker, was to undertake the inquiry on that line.
+
+It is part of my business to be thoroughly familiar with the
+Continental Bradshaw, and I soon ticked off the different trains that
+interested me.
+
+There was first the 11 A.M. from Victoria by Dover and
+Calais, where it connected with the Paris express and the sleeping-car
+Engadine express, both of which run through Amiens, where, however,
+the latter branches off to Basle and beyond, with special cars for
+Lucerne, Zurich and Coire.
+
+Then came the 2.20 P.M. from Charing Cross to Folkestone, and
+so to Boulogne, Amiens and the rest, travelling the same road as the
+Engadine express. This was the last of the day service, as it gave
+most time, allowing people to start at the very latest moment, and I
+felt it quite probable that my lady would prefer to take it.
+
+I reached Amiens a little before 5 P.M., and I had a wait of
+half an hour for the first express from Calais. I was greatly
+disappointed when at last it appeared issuing from the tunnel, and
+passed me where I stood at the commencement of the platform, taking
+stock of each carriage as it passed. The train seemed to be quite
+empty; there were no passengers, so the officials, the conductors,
+informed me when I talked to them, sad and unhappy at the certain loss
+of tips. Only one of them had any luck, Jules l'Echelle, of the
+Lucerne sleeping-car, who had one or two people on board.
+
+I questioned him not very hopefully, but was agreeably surprised when
+he told me that his clients consisted of two ladies with a child, and
+one gentleman. English? Yes, all English. The lady, quite a lady, a
+_grande dame belle personne_, tall, fine figure, well dressed; her
+companion no doubt her servant; the child, well, an ordinary child, an
+infant in arms. What would you?
+
+I had them, I felt sure. There could be no mistaking this description.
+I held them in the hollow of my hand. Here they were in this car, and
+it would be all my own fault if they escaped me. It would be necessary
+only to verify my conclusions, to identify the lady according to the
+description and photograph given me. For the rest I knew what to do.
+
+But now a quite unexpected difficulty turned up.
+
+As I have said, there was one other passenger, a gentleman, in the
+car, and I felt it would be prudent to make his acquaintance. No doubt
+I could tell at the first glance whether or not he was an ordinary
+traveller, or whether he was a friend and accomplice of the lady under
+observation.
+
+I regret to say that he met me in a very hostile spirit. I was at
+great pains to be affable, to treat him with all the courtly
+consideration I have at command, and I flatter myself that in the
+matter of tact and good-breeding I do not yield to princes of the
+blood royal. But my civility was quite thrown away. The man was an
+absolute brute, abrupt, overbearing, rude. Nothing would conciliate
+him. I offered him a cigar (a Borneo of the best brand, at 10s. the
+hundred), and he not only refused it, but positively forbade me to
+smoke. There were ladies in the carriage, he said (this was the first
+reference made to them), and, when declining to be ordered about, I
+proposed to refer the question to themselves, he threw himself
+violently upon me and assaulted me brutally.
+
+Fortunately the attendant came to my rescue or I should have been
+seriously injured. He lifted me into my compartment very kindly, and
+acted like an old friend, as indeed he was, for I remembered him as
+the Jules l'Echelle with whom I served some time back as an assistant
+at the Baths of Bormio.
+
+It was, of course, clear to my mind that my assailant was associated
+in some way with the lady, and probably a confederate. I saw that I
+must know more about him, with the least possible delay, and as soon
+as Jules had left me, promising to return later and talk of old times,
+and the changes that had come over us since then, I ventured to look
+out and get a glimpse of the other man, I will not call him gentleman
+after his conduct.
+
+He was nowhere in sight, but I could hear his voice, several voices,
+talking together at the far end. No doubt he had joined his friends in
+their compartment, and the moment seemed opportune to visit his. It
+was next to mine, and the door stood invitingly open. A few minutes,
+seconds even, would be enough to tell me something of his identity,
+perhaps all I wanted to.
+
+At least he made no pretence at mystery; his light baggage lay about,
+a dressing bag, a roll of rugs, a couple of sticks and an umbrella
+strapped together, all very neat and precise and respectable, and all
+alike furnished with a parchment tag or label bearing in plain
+language all that I wanted to know.
+
+His name was printed "Lieut.-Col. Basil Annesley," and his club, the
+Mars and Neptune, that famous military house in Piccadilly.
+Underneath, on all, his destination was written, "Hotel Bellevue,
+Bellagio, Como." There could never be the least difficulty in finding
+this person if I wanted him, as I thought likely. He was a blustering,
+swashbuckling army officer, who could always be brought to account if
+he misconducted himself, or mixed himself up in shady transactions.
+
+In my great contentment at the discovery I had been wanting in
+caution, and I lingered too long on forbidden ground.
+
+"You infernal scoundrel," cried some one from the door, and once more
+I felt an angry hand on my shoulder. "How come you here? Explain
+yourself."
+
+"It's all a mistake," I began, trying to make the best of it,
+struggling to get free. But he still held me in a grip of iron, and it
+was not until my friend Jules appeared that I got out of the enemy's
+clutches.
+
+"Here, I say!" shouted Jules vaguely. "This won't do, you know. I
+shall have to lodge a complaint against you for brawling."
+
+"Complaint, by George!" he replied, shaking his fist at me. "The boot
+is on the other leg, I take it. How is it that I find this chap in my
+compartment? Foraging about, I believe."
+
+"Indeed no, Colonel Annesley," I protested, forgetting myself; and he
+caught at it directly.
+
+"Oho, so you know my name! That proves what I say. You've been messing
+about and overhauling my things. I won't stand it. The man's a thief.
+He will have to be locked up."
+
+"I'm not the only thief in the car, then," I cried, for I was now mad
+with him and his threats.
+
+"I don't know what you're driving at, or whom you think to accuse; but
+I tell you this, my friend, that I shall call in the police at the
+next station and hand you over."
+
+I looked at the conductor Jules, appealing for protection. I saw at
+once that it would be terrible for me to have any trouble with the
+police. They could do me no harm, but I might be delayed, obliged to
+leave the train, and I should lose sight of the lady, possibly fail
+altogether.
+
+Jules responded at once. "Come, come," he said. "You're talking big.
+You might own the whole train. Who might you be?"
+
+"None of your confounded impudence," shouted the Colonel, as he
+pointed to one of the luggage labels. "That's who I am. It's good
+enough to get you discharged before you're a much older man. And now I
+call upon you to do your duty. I have caught this man under suspicious
+circumstances in the very act of rifling my effects. I insist upon his
+being taken into custody."
+
+"There isn't enough for that," Jules answered, still my friend, but
+weakening a little before this masterly army officer, and I felt that
+I must speak for myself.
+
+"And if you stop me I will have the law of you for false imprisonment,
+and bring heavy damages. You will be doing me a great injury in my
+business."
+
+"Precisely what I should like to do, my fine fellow. I can guess what
+your business is. Nothing reputable, I feel sure."
+
+"I'm not ashamed of it, and I have powerful friends behind me. I am
+acting for--"
+
+"Yes?" he asked me mockingly, for I had checked my tongue, fearing to
+say too much.
+
+"It is my affair. Enough that you will feel the weight of their hands
+if you interfere with me in carrying out their instructions."
+
+"Well, anyhow, tell me who you are. I've a right to know that in
+exchange. You chose to help yourself to my name; now I insist upon
+knowing yours."
+
+I told him, not very readily, as may be supposed.
+
+"Domenico Falfani? Is that your own or a 'purser's' name? Come, you
+know what I mean. It's part of your stock in trade to understand all
+languages, including slang. Is that the name he has given you?"--this
+to the conductor. "Show me your way-bill, your _feuille de route_."
+
+Jules at a nod from me produced it, and no doubt understood my reason
+when in my turn I claimed to see it.
+
+"I have a clear right," I insisted, overruling all objections raised
+by the Colonel; and taking it into my hands I read the names aloud,
+"Colonel Annesley, Mrs. Blair, maid and child." I pronounced the name
+with great contempt.
+
+"You talk of purser's names," I said sneeringly. "What do you think of
+this? Blair, indeed! No more the woman's name than Smith or Jones, or
+what you please."
+
+"Speak more respectfully of a lady," cried the Colonel, catching me
+tightly by the arm.
+
+"Lady? Oho! Don't, Colonel, drop it. At any rate, she is not Mrs.
+Blair; you may take that from me," I said as impressively as a judge
+on the bench. "And what's more, Colonel, I wouldn't press charges you
+can't substantiate against me, or I may hit back with another not so
+easy to meet. Try to stop me at the next station, and I'll stop your
+pal--ah, don't"--he had a cruelly strong hand--"your Mrs. Blair, and
+she'll find herself in a particularly tight place."
+
+"We'll see about that," said the Colonel, who kept a stiff face, but
+was, I think, rather crestfallen. "I shall act as I think best.
+Anyhow, get out of this, both of you. This is my private berth, and
+you are trespassing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Whatever may have been the Colonel's intentions when he caught me in
+his compartment, something, and I think my last words, led him to
+modify them. He felt, probably, that if he attacked me I might
+retaliate unpleasantly. I ought to be able to hold my own with him,
+although in truth I was not over happy at the course events had taken,
+and I could not compliment myself on my good management.
+
+I had not been overprudent; I had pressed my attentions on him rather
+abruptly, although I had the excuse that I usually found them well
+received, thanks to my affable address; again I had behaved most
+incautiously in penetrating his identity.
+
+And, worse than all, I had still no certainty. I could only surmise
+that the lady was the one I was in search of, for I had not as yet
+clapt eyes on her, and I had been to some extent driven to show my
+hand before I had made my ground good. So the first thing I did on
+regaining my own compartment was to ring for Jules, the conductor, and
+put before him the photograph with which I was provided, and ask him
+if he recognized it.
+
+"But perfectly. It is the lady yonder," he said promptly. "Is it your
+own, or did you find it or annex it from next door? Ah, your own; and
+what have you to do with her?"
+
+"I may tell you some day, Jules. For the present you must know that I
+am after her; I have to watch her, stick to her like her shadow until
+it is time to act."
+
+"An adventuress, eh?"
+
+"She is in possession of what does not belong to her; something she
+abstracted from--from--Never mind where, and it must be recovered from
+her here, or after she leaves the car."
+
+"Afterwards, please. We can't have any scandal on board here."
+
+"Five hundred francs wouldn't tempt you to let me have a free hand for
+just half an hour? I could do it, say somewhere short of Basle, and on
+reaching there make off. No one should be any the wiser, and they, the
+women, wouldn't dare to make a fuss."
+
+"It's I who do not dare--not for twice five hundred francs. My place
+is worth more than that; and if it is a dog's life, it is better than
+lying on the straw. Besides, there's her friend the Colonel, he'll be
+on the alert, you may depend."
+
+"So must I be, and I must find some way to circumvent him. I'll be
+even with him. He sha'n't beat me, the overbearing, hectoring brute.
+It's between him and me, and I think I'm a match for him."
+
+I spoke this confidently to my friend, who engaged for his part to do
+all in his power to assist, or at least to do nothing against me, and
+I was content to bide my time. Pride goes before a fall. I was not as
+clever as I thought, and shall have to tell you how seriously I had
+underrated his worth in the coming trial of strength.
+
+As the train sped on and the night began to close in on us, I remained
+quietly in my berth, pondering over my position, and in considering
+the course I should adopt under various contingencies. The first and
+most serious danger was that the lady should succeed in leaving the
+train at any of the intermediate stations at Basle, and so give me
+the slip. There were Laon, Rheims, Chaumont, and the rest.
+
+It must be my business to keep close watch against any evasion of this
+kind, and Jules had promised to help. I did not look for any such
+attempt until far into the night, when the stations were empty and
+half-dark, and I agreed with Jules to divide the hours till daylight,
+he taking the first, I the last. We were due at Basle at 5 A.M., and I
+expected to join forces then with Tiler, my colleague, coming from the
+side of Ostend, via Brussels and Strasburg.
+
+Meanwhile I kept quiet and made no sign beyond showing that I was
+there and on the spot ready to act if it should be necessary. Thus,
+when the train slackened speed on approaching a station, I was always
+on the move and the first to descend and patrol the platform. The
+Colonel always got out too, but he never accosted me; indeed, he
+seemed disposed to despise me, to ignore my existence, or dare me to
+the worst I could do.
+
+I suppose the lady must have been of the same mind, for when
+dinner-time arrived, she came boldly out of her compartment, and I met
+her face to face for the first time, on her way to the restaurant. I
+was standing at the door of my compartment.
+
+"Dinner is ready," the Colonel said to me significantly, but I did not
+choose to understand, and shook my head, holding my ground.
+
+"You are coming to dinner, I think," he repeated in a sharp commanding
+way, as if he were talking to his soldiers.
+
+"I shall please myself about that," I replied gruffly.
+
+"Not a bit of it. One moment," he whispered to the lady, who walked
+on, and turned again to me: "Now see here, my friend, I do not mean to
+leave you behind. You will come to the dining-car with us, and no two
+ways about it, even if I have to carry you."
+
+"I won't dine with you," I cried.
+
+"I never asked you to dine with me, but you shall dine when I do. I
+will pay for your dinner, but I wouldn't sit at table with you for
+worlds," he shouted with scornful laughter. "You're going to dine
+under my eye, that's all, even though the sight of you is enough to
+make one sick. So come along, sharp's the word, see? Walk first; let
+him pass you, Mrs. Blair."
+
+I felt I had no choice. He was capable of again assaulting me. There
+was something in his manner that cowed me, and I was obliged in spite
+of myself to give way.
+
+There were only three of us in the dining-car, and we were not a very
+merry company. Our tables were laid almost adjoining, and there was no
+conversation between us, except when the Colonel asked me with
+contemptuous civility what wine I preferred. He did not talk to the
+lady, or the merest commonplaces, for I was within earshot. But I made
+an excellent dinner, I must confess. I had eaten nothing since Amiens.
+Then I got back to my berth, where the bed was made. I threw myself on
+to it, rejoiced at the prospect of getting a few hours' sleep while
+Jules remained on the watch.
+
+He was to call me a little before reaching Basle, and, like an ass
+that I was, I fully relied on his doing so, believing him to be my
+friend. Such friendship as his did not bear any great strain, as I
+learnt presently to my great chagrin.
+
+I slept heavily, but in fitful snatches, as a man does when constantly
+disturbed by the whirr and whizzing of the train, the rattle and
+jangle of wheels passing over ill-jointed points. After one of the
+longest periods of unconsciousness I awoke, aroused by the complete
+absence of noise. The train was at a standstill in some station and
+making a very protracted halt.
+
+Something moved me to lift the blind and look out, and I saw, not
+without uneasiness, that we were at Basle. I thought I recognized the
+station, but I soon made out for certain the name "Basilea" (Basle),
+and saw the clock with the fingers at five-thirty. People were already
+on the move, work-people, the thrifty, industrious Swiss, forestalling
+time, travellers in twos and threes arriving and departing by the
+early train through this great junction on the frontier of
+Switzerland.
+
+Stay! What? Who are those crossing the platform hurriedly. Great
+powers! Right under my eyes, a little party of four, two females, two
+men accompanying them, escorting them, carrying rugs and parcels.
+There could not be a shadow of doubt.
+
+It was the lady, the so-called Mrs. Blair, in full flight, with all
+her belongings, and under the care and guidance not only of the
+Colonel, that of course, but also of the perfidious Jules l'Echelle.
+He had sold me! All doubt of his treachery disappeared when on rushing
+to the door I found I had been locked into my compartment.
+
+I rang the electric bell frantically, again and again. I got no
+answer; I threw up the window and thrust my head out, shouting for
+help, but got none, only one or two sluggish porters came up and asked
+what was amiss, answering stolidly, when they heard, that it was none
+of their business. "They had no key, it must be a mistake. The
+conductor would explain, I must wait till he came."
+
+Presently Jules arrived, walking very leisurely from the direction of
+the restaurant, and he stood right under my window with a grin on his
+face and mockery in his voice.
+
+"What's wrong? Locked in? Can't be possible? Who could have done it? I
+will inquire," he said slowly and imperturbably.
+
+"No, no; let me out first. You can do it if you choose. I believe it
+was your trickery from the first. I must get out, I tell you, or they
+will escape me," I cried.
+
+"Not unlikely. I may say it is pretty certain they will. That was the
+Colonel's idea; you'd better talk to him about it next time you see
+him."
+
+"And that will be never, I expect. He's not going to show up here
+again."
+
+"There you're wrong; he will be back before the train starts, you may
+rely on that, and you'll be able to talk to him. We'll let you out
+then," he was laughing at me, traitor that he was. "Here he comes.
+We're just going on."
+
+Now I saw my last chance of successfully performing my mission
+disappearing beyond recall. I renewed my shouts and protests, but was
+only laughed at for my pains. The railway officials at Basle might
+have interfered, but Jules answered for me, declaring with a
+significant gesture that I was in drink and that he would see to me.
+
+I quite despaired. Already the train was moving out of the station,
+when, to my intense joy, I caught sight of Ludovic Tiler, who came
+down the platform running alongside us, and crying, "Falfani,
+Falfani," as he recognized me.
+
+"Don't mind me," I shouted to him. "I must go on, I can't help myself.
+It's for you to take it up now. She's in the restaurant. You'll easily
+know her, in a long ulster, with her maid and the child. You can't
+miss her. By the Lord, she is standing at the door! Get away with
+you, don't let her see you talking with me. She must not know we are
+acting in common, and I do hope she hasn't noticed. Be off, I tell
+you, only let me hear of you; wire to Lucerne what you're doing.
+Address telegraph-office. Send me a second message at Goeschenen. I
+shall get one or both. Say where I may answer and where I can join
+you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+The timely appearance of my colleague, Ludovic Tiler, consoled me a
+little for the loss of the lady and her lot. I had failed, myself, but
+I hoped that with my lead he would get on to the scent and keep to it.
+Ere long, on the first intimation from him I might come into the game
+again. I should be guided by his wire if I got it.
+
+For the moment I was most concerned to find out whether Tiler's
+intervention and my short talk with him had been noticed by the other
+side. If the Colonel knew that another man was on his friend's track,
+he would surely have left the train at once so as to go to her
+assistance. But he was still in the train, I could hear him plainly,
+speaking to Jules in the next compartment. Again, as we sped on, I
+reasoned favourably from their leaving me as I was, still under lock
+and key. No one came near me until after we had passed Olten station,
+the first stopping-place after Basle, where I could alight and retrace
+my steps. By holding on to me I guessed that I was still thought to
+be the chief danger, and that they had no suspicion of Tiler's
+existence.
+
+I laughed in my sleeve, but not the less did I rage and storm when
+Jules l'Echelle came with the Colonel to release me.
+
+"You shall pay for this," I cried hotly.
+
+"As for you, l'Echelle, it shall cost you your place, and I'll take
+the law of you, Colonel Annesley; I'll get damages and you shall
+answer for your illegal action."
+
+"Pfui!" retorted the Colonel. "The mischief you can do is nothing to
+what you might have done. We can stand the racket. I've bested you for
+the present--that's the chief thing, anyway. You can't persecute the
+poor lady any more."
+
+"Poor lady! Do you know who she is or was, anyway?"
+
+"Of course I do," he answered bold as brass.
+
+"Did she let on? Told you, herself? My word! She's got a nerve. I
+wonder she'd own to it after all she's done."
+
+"Silence!" he shouted, in a great taking. "If you dare to utter a
+single word against that lady, I'll break every bone in your body."
+
+"I'm saying nothing--it's not me, it's all the world. It was in the
+papers, you must have read them, the most awful story, such--such
+depravity there never was--such treachery, such gross misconduct."
+
+He caught me by the arm so violently and looked so fierce that for a
+moment I was quite alarmed.
+
+"Drop it, I tell you. Leave the lady alone, both by word and deed.
+You'll never find her again, I've seen to that. She has escaped you."
+
+"Aha! You think so? Don't be too cocksure. We understand our
+business better than that, we don't go into it single-handed. You've
+collared me for a bit, but I'm not the only one in the show."
+
+"The only one that counts," he said sneering.
+
+"Am I?" I answered in the same tone. "What if I had a pal waiting for
+me at Basle, who received my instructions there--just when you thought
+you had me safe--and has now taken up the running?"
+
+He was perfectly staggered at this, I could see plainly. I thought at
+first he would have struck me, he was so much upset.
+
+"You infernal villain," he shouted, "I believe the whole thing is a
+confounded lie! Explain."
+
+"I owe you no explanations," I replied stiffly, "my duty is to my
+employers. I only account to them for my conduct. I am a confidential
+agent."
+
+He seemed impressed by this, for when he spoke again it was more
+quietly. But he looked me very straight in the eyes. I felt that he
+was still likely to give trouble.
+
+"Well, I suppose I cannot expect you to tell me things. You must go
+your own way and I shall go mine."
+
+"I should advise you to leave it, Colonel," I said, civilly enough.
+"I'm always anxious to conciliate and avoid unpleasantness. Give up
+the whole business; you will only burn your fingers."
+
+"Ah! How so?"
+
+"The law is altogether against you. It is a nasty job; better not be
+mixed up in it. Have you any idea what that woman--that lady," I
+corrected myself, for his eyes flashed, "has done?"
+
+"Nothing really wrong," he was warming up into a new burst of passion.
+
+"Tell that to the Courts and to the Judge when you are prosecuted for
+contempt and charged as an accessory after the fact. How will you like
+that? It will take the starch out of you."
+
+"Rot! The law can't do us much harm. The only person who might make it
+disagreeable is Lord Blackadder, and I snap my fingers at him."
+
+"The Earl of Blackadder? Are you mad? He is a great personage, a rich
+and powerful nobleman. You cannot afford to fight him; he will be too
+strong for you. He has been made the victim of an abominable outrage,
+and will spare no effort, no means, no money to recover his own."
+
+"Lord Blackadder is a cad--a cruel, cowardly ruffian. I know all about
+him and what has happened. It would give me the greatest pleasure to
+kick him down the street. Failing that, I shall do my best to upset
+and spoil his schemes, and so you know."
+
+I smiled contemptuously. "A mere Colonel against an Earl! What sort of
+a chance have you? It's too absurd."
+
+"We shall see. Those laugh longest who laugh last."
+
+By this time our talk was done, for we were approaching Lucerne, and
+I began to think over my next plans. All must depend on what I heard
+there--upon what news, if any, came from Ludovic Tiler.
+
+So on my arrival I made my way straight to the telegraph-office in the
+corner of the great station, and on showing my card an envelope was
+handed to me. It was from Tiler at Basle, and ran as follows:
+
+"They have booked through by 7.30 A.M., via Brienne, Lausanne
+to Brieg, and I suppose the Simplon. I shall accompany. Can you join
+me at either end--Brieg or Domo Dossola? The sooner the better. Wire
+me from all places along the route, giving your movements. Address me
+in my train No. 70."
+
+The news pointed pretty clearly to the passage of the Alps and descent
+into Italy by another route than the St. Gothard. I had my Bradshaw in
+my bag, and proceeded at once to verify the itinerary by the
+time-table, while I drank my early coffee in the restaurant upon the
+station platform. I was most anxious to join hands with Tiler, and
+quickly turned over the leaves of my railway guide to see if it was
+possible, and how it might best be managed.
+
+My first idea was to retrace my steps to Basle and follow him by the
+same road. But I soon found that the trains would not fit in the very
+least. He would be travelling by the one fast train in the day, which
+was due at Brieg at four o'clock in the afternoon. My first chance, if
+I caught the very next train back from Lucerne, would only get me to
+Brieg by the eleven o'clock the following morning.
+
+It was not good enough, and I dismissed the idea forthwith. Then I
+remembered that by getting off the St. Gothard railway at Goeschenen I
+should strike the old Furka diligence route by the Devil's Bridge,
+Hospenthal, and the Rhone Glacier, a drive of fifty miles, more or
+less, but at least it would get me to Brieg that same night by 10 or
+11 o'clock.
+
+Before adopting this line I had to consider that there was a risk of
+missing Tiler and his quarry; that is to say, of being too late for
+them; for the lady might decide to push on directly she reached Brieg,
+taking a special carriage extra post as far as the Simplon at least,
+even into Domo Dossola. She was presumably in such a hurry that the
+night journey would hardly deter her from driving over the pass. Tiler
+would certainly follow. By the time I reached Brieg they would be
+halfway across the Alps, and I must take the same road, making a stern
+chase, proverbially the longest.
+
+I turned my attention, therefore, to the Italian end of the carriage
+road, and to seeing how and when I could reach Domo Dossola, the
+alternative suggestion made by Tiler. There would be no difficulty as
+to that, and I found I could be there in good time the same evening. I
+worked it out on the tables and it looked easy enough.
+
+Leave Lucerne by the St. Gothard railway, pass Goeschenen, and go
+through the tunnel down the Italian side as far as Bellizona. Thence a
+branch line would take me to Locarno and into touch with the steamboat
+service on Lake Maggiore. There was a fixed connection according to
+the tables, and I should land at Pallanza within a short hour's drive
+of the line to Domo Dossola. I could be established there by nightfall
+and would command the situation. Every carriage that came down the
+Simplon must come under my eye.
+
+There could be no doubt that the Bellizona-Locarno Lake line was the
+preferable one, and I finally decided in favour of it. I closed my
+Bradshaw with a bang, replaced it in my bag, drank up my coffee, and
+started for the telegraph office. I meant to advise Tiler of my plans,
+and at the same time arrange with him to look out for me just outside
+the terminus station at Domo Dossola, or to communicate with me there
+at the Hôtel de la Poste.
+
+On coming out I ran up against the last person I wished to see. It was
+the Colonel, who greeted me with a loud laugh, and gave me a slap on
+the back.
+
+"Halloa, my wily detective," he said mockingly; "settled it all quite
+to your satisfaction? Done with Bradshaw--sent off your wires? Well,
+what's the next move?"
+
+"I decline to hold any conversation with you," I began severely. "I
+beg you will not intrude upon my privacy. I do not desire your
+acquaintance."
+
+"Hoity toity!" he cried. "On your high horse, eh? Aren't you afraid
+you may fall off or get knocked off?" and he raised his hand with an
+ugly gesture.
+
+"We are not alone now in a railway carriage. There are police about,
+and the Swiss police do not approve of brawling," I replied, with all
+the dignity I could assume.
+
+"Come, Falfani, tell me what you mean to do now," he went on in the
+same tone.
+
+"Your questions are an impertinence. I do not know you. I do not
+choose to know you, and I beg you will leave me alone."
+
+"Don't think of it, my fine fellow. I'm not going to leave you alone.
+You may make up your mind to that. Where you go, I go; what you do, I
+shall do. We are inseparables, you and I, as much united as the
+Siamese twins. So I tell you."
+
+"But it's monstrous, it's not to be tolerated. I shall appeal for
+protection to the authorities."
+
+"Do so, my friend, do so. See which will get the best of that. I don't
+want to swagger, but at any rate all the world knows pretty well who I
+am; but what shall you call yourself, Mr. Falfani?"
+
+"I have my credentials from my employers; I have letters,
+testimonials, recommendations from the best people."
+
+"Including the Earl of Blackadder, I presume? I admit your great
+advantages. Well, try it. You may get the best of it in the long run,
+but you'll lose a good deal of time. I'm not in a hurry," he said with
+emphasis, and promptly recalled me to my senses, for I realized that
+I could not fight him that way. It must be by stratagem or evasion. I
+must throw dust in his eyes, put him off the scent, mislead, befool,
+elude him somehow.
+
+How was I to shake him off now I saw that he was determined to stick
+to me? He had said it in so many words. He would not let me out of his
+sight; wherever I went he was coming too.
+
+The time was drawing on for the departure of the St. Gothard express
+at 9.8 A.M., and as yet I had no ticket. I had booked at
+Amiens as far as Lucerne only, leaving further plans as events might
+fall out. Now I desired to go on, but did not see how I was to take a
+fresh ticket without his learning my destination. He would be certain
+to be within earshot when I went up to the window.
+
+I was beginning to despair when I saw Cook's man, who was, as usual,
+hovering about to assist travellers in trouble, and I beckoned him to
+approach.
+
+"See that gentleman," I nodded towards the Colonel. "He wants you; do
+your best for him." And when the tourist agent proceeded on his
+mission to be accosted, I fear rather unceremoniously, I slipped off
+and hid out of sight.
+
+I felt sure I was unobserved as I took my place in the crowd at the
+ticket-window, but when I had asked and paid for my place to Locarno I
+heard, to my disgust, some one else applying for a ticket to exactly
+the same place, and in a voice that was strangely familiar.
+
+On looking round I saw Jules l'Echelle, the sleeping-car conductor,
+but out of uniform, and with an amused grin on his face.
+
+"It seems that we are still to be fellow travellers," he observed
+casually.
+
+"What is taking you to Lake Maggiore? How about your service on the
+car?" I asked suspiciously.
+
+"I have business at Locarno, and have got a few days' leave to attend
+to it."
+
+I felt he was lying to me. He had been bought, I was sure. His
+business was the Colonel's, who had set him to assist in watching me.
+I had two enemies then to encounter, and I realized with some
+misgiving that the Colonel was not a man to be despised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+I secured a place with difficulty; there was rather a rush for the St.
+Gothard express when it ran in. It was composed as usual of corridor
+carriages, all classes _en suite_, and I knew that it would be
+impossible to conceal the fact that I was on board the train. Within
+five minutes Jules had verified the fact and taken seats in the
+immediate neighbourhood, to which he and the Colonel presently came.
+
+"Quite a pleasant little party!" he said in a bantering tone. "All
+bound for Locarno, eh? Ever been to Locarno before, Mr. Falfani?
+Delightful lake, Maggiore. Many excursions, especially by steamer; the
+Borromean islands well worth seeing, and Baveno and Stresa and the
+road to the Simplon."
+
+I refused to be drawn, and only muttered that I hated excursions and
+steamers and lakes, and wished to be left in peace.
+
+"A little out of sorts, I'm afraid, Mr. Falfani. Sad that. Too many
+emotions, want of sleep, perhaps. You _would_ do _too_ much last
+night." He still kept up his hateful babble, and Jules maddened me by
+his sniggering enjoyment of my discomfiture.
+
+More than ever did I set my brain to puzzle out some way of escaping
+this horrible infliction. Was it not possible to give them the slip,
+somehow, somewhere? I took the Colonel's hint, and pretended to take
+refuge in sleep, and at last, I believe, I dozed off. It must have
+been in my dreams that an idea came to me, a simple idea, easy of
+execution with luck and determination.
+
+It was suggested to me by the short tunnels that succeed so frequently
+in the ascent of the St. Gothard Alps. They are, as most people know,
+a chief feature in the mountain railway, and a marvel of engineering
+skill, being cut in circles to give the necessary length and gain the
+height with a moderate gradient. Speed is so far slackened that it
+would be quite possible to drop off the train without injury whenever
+inclined. My only difficulty would be to alight without interference
+from my persecutors.
+
+I nursed my project with eyes shut, still feigning sleep; and my
+extreme quiescence had, as I hoped, the effect of throwing them off
+their guard. Jules, like all in the same employment, was always ready
+for forty winks, and I saw that he was sound and snoring just as we
+entered the last tunnel before reaching the entrance of the final
+great tunnel at Goeschenen. I could not be quite sure of the Colonel,
+but his attitude was that of a man resting, and who had very nearly
+lost himself, if he had not quite gone off.
+
+Now was my time. If it was to be done at all it must be quickly,
+instantaneously almost. Fortunately we sat at the extreme end of a
+coach, in the last places, and besides we three there was only one
+other occupant in the compartment of six. The fourth passenger was
+awake, but I made a bid for his good-will by touching my lips with a
+finger, and the next minute I was gone.
+
+I expected to hear the alarm given at my disappearance, but none
+reached my ears, as the train rattled past me with its twinkling
+lights and noisy road. I held myself close against the side of the
+tunnel in perfect safety, although the hot wind of the passing cars
+fanned my cheek and rather terrified me. The moment the train was well
+gone I faced the glimmering light that showed the entrance to the
+tunnel at the further end from the station, and ran to it with all
+speed.
+
+I knew that my jump from the train could not pass unnoticed, and I
+counted on being followed. I expected that the tunnel would be
+explored by people from Goeschenen so soon as the train ran in and
+reported. My first object, therefore, was to quit the line, and I did
+so directly I was clear of the tunnel. I climbed the fence, dropped
+into a road, left that again to ascend the slope and take shelter
+among the rocks and trees.
+
+The pursuit, if any, was not very keen or long maintained. When all
+was quiet, an hour later I made for the highroad, the famous old road
+that leads through the Devil's Pass to Andermatt, three miles above. I
+altogether avoided the Goeschenen station, fearing any inconvenient
+inquiries, and abandoned all idea of getting the telegram from Tiler
+that might be possibly awaiting me. It did not much matter. I should
+be obliged now to send him fresh news, news of the changed plans that
+took me direct into Brieg; and on entering Andermatt I came upon the
+post-office, just where I wanted it, both to send my message and order
+an extra post carriage from Brieg.
+
+It was with a sense of intense relief that I sank back into the
+cushions and felt that at last I was free. My satisfaction was
+abruptly destroyed. Long before I reached Hospenthal, a mile or so
+from Andermatt, I was disturbed by strange cries to the accompaniment
+of harness bells.
+
+"Yo-icks, Yo-icks, G-o-ne away!" was borne after me with all the force
+of stentorian lungs, and looking round I saw to my horror a second
+carriage coming on at top speed, and beyond all question aiming to
+overtake us. Soon they drew nearer, near enough for speech, and the
+accursed Colonel hailed me.
+
+"Why, you cunning fox, so you broke cover and got away all in a
+moment! Lucky you were seen leaving the train, or we might have
+overrun the scent and gone on."
+
+I did not answer.
+
+"Nice morning for a drive, Mr. Falfani, and a long drive," he went on,
+laughing boisterously. "Going all the way to Brieg by road, I believe?
+So are we. Pity we did not join forces. One carriage would have done
+for all three of us."
+
+Still I did not speak.
+
+"A bit ugly, eh? Don't fuss, man. It's all in the day's work."
+
+With that I desired my driver to pull up, and waved my hand to the
+others, motioning to them that the road was theirs.
+
+But when I stopped they stopped, and the Colonel jeered. When I drove
+on they came along too, laughing. We did this several times; and when
+at the two roads just through Hospenthal, one by the St. Gothard, the
+other leading to the Furka, I took the first for a short distance,
+then turned back, just to try my pursuers. They still stuck to me. My
+heart sank within me. I was in this accursed soldier's claws. He had
+collared me, he was on my back, and I felt that I must throw up the
+sponge.
+
+"I gave you fair notice that you would not get rid of me, and by
+heaven you shall not," he cried fiercely, putting off all at once the
+lighter mockery of his tone. "I know what is taking you to Brieg. You
+think to find your confederate there, and you hope that, combined, the
+two of you will get the better of that lady. You sha'n't, not if I can
+prevent you by any means in my power; understand that, and look out
+for squalls if you try."
+
+I confess he cowed me; he was so strong, so masterful, and, as I
+began to fear, so unscrupulous, that I felt I could not make head
+against him. Certainly not alone. I must have Tiler's help, his
+counsel, countenance, active support. I must get in touch with him at
+the earliest possible moment and my nearest way to him, situated as I
+was now, must be at or through Brieg.
+
+So I resigned myself to my fate, and suffered myself to be driven on
+with my pertinacious escort hanging on to me mile after mile of my
+wearing and interminable journey. We pulled up for luncheon and a
+short rest at the Furka; again in the afternoon at the Rhone Glacier.
+Then we pursued our way all along the valley, with the great snow peak
+of the Matterhorn in front of us, through village and hamlet, in the
+fast fading light, and so on under the dark but luminous sky into
+Munster, Fiesch, and Morel, till at length we rolled into Brieg about
+11 P.M.
+
+I drove straight to the Hôtel de la Poste, careless that my tormentors
+were accompanying me; they could do me no more harm, and Tiler was at
+hand to help in vindicating our position.
+
+There was no Tiler at the Hôtel de la Poste; no Tiler in Brieg. Only
+a brief telegram from him conveying unwelcome and astounding
+intelligence. It had been despatched from Vevey about 2 P.M.,
+and it said:
+
+  "Lost her somewhere between this and Lausanne. Am trying back. Shall
+   wire you again to Brieg. Wait there or leave address."
+
+My face must have betrayed my abject despair. I was so completely
+knocked over that I offered no opposition when the Colonel impudently
+took the telegram out of my hand and read it coolly.
+
+"Drawn blank!" he cried, unable to contain himself for joy. "By the
+Lord Harry, that's good."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+[_The Statement of the Second Detective_, _Ludovic Tiler_.]
+
+
+I travelled via Ostend, Brussels and Strasburg, and was due at Basle
+from that side at 4.35 A.M. My instructions were to look out
+for Falfani there, and thought I might do so if our train was fairly
+punctual, as it was. We were "on time," and the answer to my first
+question was that the Lucerne express was still at the platform, but
+on the point of departure.
+
+I got one glimpse of Falfani and one word with him. He was in trouble
+himself; they had nipped him, caught him tight, and thrown him off the
+scent. I was now to take up the running.
+
+"You've got your chance now, Ludovic," he said hurriedly, as he leaned
+out of the carriage window. "I'm not jealous, as you often are, but
+it's deuced hard on me. Anyhow, stick to her like wax, and keep your
+eyes skinned. She's got the wiles of the devil, and will sell you like
+a dog if you don't mind. Hurry now; you'll pick her up in the
+waiting-room or restaurant, and can't miss her."
+
+He gave me the description, and I left him, promising him a wire at
+the telegraph office, Lucerne. He was right, there was no mistaking
+her. Few people were about at that time in the morning, and there was
+not a soul among the plain-headed, commonplace Swiss folk to compare
+with her, an English lady with her belongings.
+
+She was quite a beauty, tall, straight, lissom, in her tight-fitting
+ulster; her piquante-looking heather cap perched on chestnut curls,
+and setting off as handsome a face as I have ever seen. And I have
+seen and admired many, for I don't deny that I've a strong penchant
+for pretty women, and this was the pick of the basket. It was rather a
+bore to be put on to her in the way of business; but why should I not
+get a little pleasure out of it if I could? I need not be
+disagreeable; it might help matters and pass the time pleasantly, even
+if in the end I might have to show my teeth.
+
+I saw her looking me over as I walked into the waiting-room,
+curiously, critically, and for a moment I fancied she guessed who I
+was. Had she seen me talking to Falfani?
+
+If so--if she thought me one of her persecutors--she would hardly look
+upon me without repugnance, yet I almost believed it was all the other
+way. I had an idea that she did not altogether dislike me, that she
+was pleased with my personal appearance. Why not? I had had my
+successes in my time, and may say, although it sounds conceited, that
+I had won the approval of other ladies quite as high-toned. By and by
+it might be my unpleasant duty to be disagreeable. In the meantime it
+would be amusing, enjoyable, to make friends.
+
+So far I had still to ascertain the direction in which she was bound.
+She had taken her ticket. That might be safely inferred, for she was
+in the waiting-room with her porter and her bags, ready to pass out
+upon the platform as soon as the doors were opened. (Everyone knows
+that the idiotic and uncomfortable practice still prevails in
+Switzerland of shutting passengers off from the train till the very
+last moment.)
+
+This waiting-room served for many lines, and I could only wait
+patiently to enter the particular train for which she would be
+summoned. When at length an official unlocked the door and announced
+the train for Biel, Neuchâtel, Lausanne, and Brieg, she got up to take
+her seat, and I had no longer any doubt as to the direction of her
+journey. So as I saw her go, I slipped back to the ticket-office and
+took my place all the way to Brieg, the furthest point on the line.
+This was obviously my best and safest plan, as I should then be ready
+for anything that happened. I could get out anywhere, wherever she
+did, in fact. After getting my ticket I found time to telegraph to
+Falfani at Lucerne, giving him my latest news, and then proceeded to
+the train.
+
+I found the lady easily enough, and got into the same carriage with
+her. It was one of those on the Swiss plan, with many compartments
+opening into one another _en suite_. Although the seat I chose was at
+a discreet distance, I was able to keep her in view.
+
+I was wondering whether it would be possible for me to break the ice
+and make her acquaintance, when luck served me better than I dared to
+hope. One of the Swiss guards of the train, a surly, overbearing
+brute, like so many others of his class, accosted her rudely, and from
+his gestures was evidently taking her to task as to the number and
+size of her parcels in the net above. He began to shift them, and,
+despite her indignant protests in imperfect German, threw some of them
+on the floor.
+
+This was my opportunity. I hurried to the rescue, and, being fluent in
+German as in several other languages--it is part of my stock in
+trade--I sharply reproved the guard and called him an unmannerly boor
+for his cowardly treatment of an unprotected lady. My reward was a
+sweet smile, and I felt encouraged to hazard a few words in reply to
+her cordial thanks. She responded quickly, readily, and I thought I
+might improve the occasion by politely inquiring if I could be of any
+further service to her.
+
+"Perhaps you can tell me, you see I am strange on this line," she
+answered with a perfectly innocent air, "do you happen to know at what
+time we are due at Lausanne?"
+
+"Not to the minute," I replied. "I have a railway guide in my bag,
+shall I fetch it?"
+
+"No, no, I should not like to give you so much trouble."
+
+"But it will be no trouble. Let me fetch my bag."
+
+I went off in perfect good faith, anxious to oblige so charming a
+lady. I had not the slightest suspicion that she was playing with me.
+Silly ass that I was, I failed to detect the warning that dropped from
+her own lips.
+
+When I got back with the Bradshaw I came upon them for just one moment
+unawares. The maid must have been making some remarks displeasing to
+my lady, who was answering her with much asperity.
+
+"I know what I am doing, Philpotts. Be so good as to leave it to me.
+It is the only way."
+
+Then she caught sight of me as I stood before her, and her manner
+instantly changed. She addressed me very sweetly and with the utmost
+composure. "Oh, how very good of you, I feel quite ashamed of myself."
+
+"Why should you? It is delightful to be of use to you. Lausanne I
+think you said?" I asked casually as I turned over the pages of the
+guide. "You are going to Lausanne?"
+
+"No, Vevey to Montreux. I only wanted to know whether there would be
+time for _déjeuner_ at Lausanne. I think there is no dining-car on
+this train?"
+
+"No, it is on the next, which is extraordinarily bad mismanagement.
+It is a slow train the next, and we are a special express. But you
+will have a clear half-hour to spare at Lausanne. That will be enough,
+I presume? Lausanne at 12 noon, and we go on at half-past."
+
+"You, too, are going beyond Lausanne?"
+
+"Possibly, I am not quite sure. It depends upon my meeting friends
+somewhere on the lake, either there or further on. If they come on
+board we shall run on to Brieg so as to drop over the Alps to Lake
+Maggiore by the Simplon route."
+
+I threw this out carelessly but with deliberate intention, and the
+shot told. A crimson flush came over her face and her hands trembled
+violently. I had not the smallest doubt that this was her plan also.
+She was bound to cross over into Italy, that we knew, or our employers
+firmly believed it, and as she had been driven off the St. Gothard by
+Falfani she had now doubled back by Switzerland to make the journey to
+Brieg and across the mountains by road.
+
+I had scored as I thought, but I forgot that in gaining the knowledge
+I had betrayed my own intentions, and put her upon her guard. I was to
+pay for this.
+
+"Oh, really," she said quietly and with polite interest, having
+entirely recovered her composure. "I dare say a very pleasant drive.
+How long does it take, have you any idea, and how do you travel?"
+
+"It is about nine hours by diligence," I said, consulting the
+Bradshaw, "and the fare is forty francs, but by private carriage or
+extra post a good deal more."
+
+"May I look?" and I handed her the book, "although I never could
+understand Bradshaw," she added pleasantly.
+
+"I shall be very pleased to explain if you are in doubt," I suggested;
+but she declined laughingly, saying it would amuse her to puzzle out
+things, so I left her the book and composed myself into a corner while
+the train rattled on. I mused and dozed and dreamily watched her
+pretty face admiringly, as she pored over the pages of the Guide,
+little thinking she was perfecting a plan for my undoing.
+
+The first stop was at Biel or Bienne, its French name, and there was a
+halt of ten minutes or more. I made my way to the telegraph office in
+the station, where to my great satisfaction I found a message from
+Falfani, informing me that he should make the best of his way to
+Brieg, unless I could suggest something better.
+
+The answer I despatched at once to Goeschenen was worded as follows:
+"Declares she is going to Montreux only. Believe untrue. Still think
+her destination Brieg. Come on there anyhow and await further from me.
+May be necessary to join forces." We were in accord, Falfani and I,
+and in communication.
+
+I was well satisfied with what we were doing, and on receiving the
+second and third telegrams at Neuchâtel and Yverdun I was all the more
+pleased. At last we were nearing Lausanne, and I looked across to my
+lady to prepare her for getting out. I had no need to attract her
+attention, for I caught her eyes fixed on me and believe she was
+watching me furtively. The smile that came upon her lips was so
+pleasant and sweet that it might have overjoyed a more conceited man
+than myself.
+
+"Are we near then? Delightful! I never was so hungry in my life," and
+the smile expanded into a gay laugh as she rose to her feet and was
+ready to leave the carriage.
+
+"I'm afraid you will have to wait, Philpotts, we cannot leave that,"
+she pointed to the child nestling sound asleep by her side. "But I
+will send or bring you something. This gentleman will perhaps escort
+me to the refreshment-room."
+
+I agreed, of course, and saying, "Only too charmed," I led the way--a
+long way, for the restaurant is at the far end of the platform. At
+last we sat down _tête-à-tête_ and prepared to do full justice to the
+meal. Strange to say, despite her anticipations, she proved to have
+very little appetite.
+
+"I must have waited too long," she said, as she trifled with a cutlet.
+"I shall perhaps like something else better," and she went carefully
+through the whole _menu_, so that the time slipped away, and we were
+within five minutes of departure.
+
+"And poor dear Philpotts, I had quite forgotten her. Come and help me
+choose," and in duty bound I gallantly carried the food back to the
+train.
+
+I walked ahead briskly, and making my way to the places where we had
+left the maid and child, jumped in.
+
+They were gone, the two of them. Everything was gone, rugs, bags,
+belongings, people. The seats were empty, and as the compartment was
+quite empty, too, no one could tell me when they had left or where
+they had gone.
+
+I turned quickly round to my companion, who was, I thought, following
+close at my heels, and found to my utter amazement that she also had
+disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+For the moment I was dazed and dumfounded, but I took a pull on myself
+quickly. It was a clever plant. Had they sold me completely? That was
+still to be seen. My one chance was in prompt action; I must hunt them
+up, recover trace of them with all possible despatch, follow them, and
+find them wherever they might be.
+
+There was just the chance that they had only moved into another
+carriage, thinking that when I missed them I should get out and hunt
+for them in the station. To counter that I ran up and down the train,
+in and out of the carriages, questing like a hound, searching
+everywhere. So eager was I that I neglected the ordinary warnings that
+the train was about to start; the guard's _fertig_ ("ready"), the
+sounding horn, the answering engine whistle, I overlooked them all,
+and we moved on before I could descend. I made as though to jump off
+hastily, but was prevented.
+
+"_Was ist das? Nein, nein, verboten._" A hand caught me roughly by the
+collar and dragged me back. It was the enemy I had made in championing
+my lady, the guard of the train, who gladly seized the chance of being
+disagreeable to me.
+
+I fought hard to be free, but by the time I had shaken him off the
+speed had so increased that it would have been unsafe to leave the
+train. I had no choice but to go on, harking back as soon as I could.
+Fortunately our first stop was within five and twenty minutes, at
+Vevey; and there in ten minutes more I found a train back to Lausanne,
+so that I had lost less than an hour and a half in all.
+
+But much may happen in that brief space of time. It was more than
+enough for my fugitives to clear out of the Lausanne station and make
+some new move, to hide away in an out-of-the-way spot, go to ground in
+fact, or travel in another direction.
+
+My first business was to inquire in and about the station for a person
+or persons answering to the parties I missed. Had they separated,
+these two women, for good and all? That was most unlikely. If the maid
+had gone off first, I had to consider whether they would not again
+join forces as soon as I was well out of the way. They would surely
+feel safer, happier, together, and this encouraged me to ask first for
+two people, two females, a lady and her servant, one of them, the
+latter, carrying a child.
+
+There were many officials about in uniform, and all alike supercilious
+and indifferent, after the manner of their class, to the travelling
+public, and I could get none to take the smallest interest in my
+affairs. One shrugged his shoulders, another stared at me in insolent
+silence, a third answered me abruptly that he was too occupied to
+bother himself, and a fourth peremptorily ordered me not to hang any
+longer about the station.
+
+Foiled thus by the railway staff--and I desire to place on record here
+my deliberate opinion after many years' experience in many lands, that
+for rudeness and overbearing manners the Swiss functionary has no
+equal in the whole world--I went outside the station and sought
+information among the cabmen and touts who hang about waiting to take
+up travellers. I accosted all the drivers patiently one by one, but
+could gather nothing definite from any of them. Most had been on the
+stand at the arrival of the midday train, many had been engaged to
+convey passengers and baggage up into the town of Lausanne, and had
+deposited their fares at various hotels and private residences, but no
+one had driven any party answering to those of whom I was in search.
+
+This practically decided the point that my lady had not left the
+station in a carriage or openly, if she had walked. But that she had
+not been observed did not dispose of the question. They were dull,
+stupid men, these, only intent on their own business, who would pay
+little attention to humble persons on foot showing no desire to hire a
+cab. I would not be baffled thus soon in my quest. A confidential
+agent who will not take infinite pains in his researches had better
+seek some other line of business. As I stood there in front of the
+great station belonging to the Jura-Simplon, I saw facing me a small
+façade of the Gare Sainte Luce, one of the intermediate stations on
+the _Ficelle_ or cable railway that connects Ouchy on the lake with
+Lausanne above.
+
+It was not a hundred yards distant; it could be easily and quickly
+reached, and without much observation, if a person waited till the
+immediate neighbourhood had been cleared by the general exodus after
+the arrival of the chief express of the day. There were any number of
+trains by this _funiculaire_--at every half-hour indeed--and any one
+taking this route could reach either Lausanne or Ouchy after a very
+few minutes' journey up or down. To extend my investigation on that
+side was of obvious and pressing importance. I was only too conscious
+of my great loss of time, now at the outset, which might efface all
+tracks and cut me off hopelessly from any clue.
+
+I was soon across and inside the Sainte Luce station, but still
+undecided which direction I should choose, when the little car arrived
+going upward, and I ran over to that platform and jumped in. I must
+begin one way or the other, and I proceeded at once to question the
+conductor, when he nicked my ticket, only to draw perfectly blank.
+
+"Have I seen two ladies and a child this morning? But, _grand Dieu_, I
+have seen two thousand. It is _idiote_ to ask such questions,
+monsieur, of a busy man."
+
+"I can pay for what I want," I whispered gently, as I slipped a
+five-franc piece into his hand, ever mindful of the true saying,
+_Point d'argent, point de Suisse_; and the bribe entirely changed his
+tone.
+
+"A lady, handsome, tall, distinguished, _comme il faut_, with a
+companion, a servant, a nurse carrying a child?" He repeated my
+description, adding, "_Parfaitement_, I saw her. She was not one to
+forget quickly."
+
+"And she was going to Lausanne?"
+
+"_Ma foi_, yes, I believe so; or was it to Ouchy?" He seemed
+overwhelmed with sudden doubt. "Lausanne or Ouchy? Up or down? Twenty
+thousand thunders, but I cannot remember, not--" he dropped his
+voice--"not for five francs."
+
+I doubled the dose, and hoped I had now sufficiently stimulated his
+memory or unloosed his tongue. But the rascal was still hesitating
+when we reached the top, and I could get nothing more than that it was
+certainly Lausanne, "if," he added cunningly, "it was not Ouchy." But
+he had seen her, that was sure--seen her that very day upon the line,
+not more than an hour or two before. He had especially admired her;
+_dame_! he had an eye for the _beau sexe_; and yet more he noticed
+that she talked English, of which he knew some words, to her maid. But
+whether she was bound to Lausanne or Ouchy, "_diable_, who could
+say?"
+
+I had got little in return for my ten francs expended on this
+ambiguous news, but now that I found myself actually in Lausanne I
+felt that it behoved me to scour the city for traces of my quarry. She
+might not have come here at all, yet there was an even chance the
+other way, and I should be mad not to follow the threads I held in my
+hand. I resolved to inquire at all the hotels forthwith. It would take
+time and trouble, but it was essential. I must run her to ground if
+possible, fix her once more, or I should never again dare to look my
+employers in the face. I was ashamed to confess to Falfani that I had
+been outwitted and befooled. I would send him no more telegrams until
+I had something more satisfactory to say.
+
+I was now upon the great bridge that spans the valley of the Flon and
+joins the old with the new quarter of Lausanne. The best hotels, the
+Gibbon, Richemont, Falcon, Grand Pont, and several more, stood within
+easy reach, and I soon exhausted this branch of the inquiry. I found a
+_valet de place_ hanging about the Gibbon, whose services I secured,
+and instructed him to complete the investigation, extending it to all
+the minor hotels and pensions, some half-dozen more, reserving to
+myself the terminus by the great station, which I had overlooked when
+leaving for the _Ficelle_ or cable railway. I meant to wait for him
+there to hear his report, but at the same time I took his
+address--Eugène Falloon, Rue Pré Fleuri--where I could give him an
+appointment in case I missed him at the terminus. He was a long, lean,
+hungry-looking fellow, clumsily made, with an enormous head and
+misshapen hands and feet; but he was no fool this Falloon, and his
+local knowledge proved exceedingly useful.
+
+On entering the car for the journey down I came upon the conductor who
+had been of so little use to me, and I was about to upbraid him when
+he disarmed me by volunteering fresh news.
+
+"Ah, but, monsieur, I know much better now. I recollect exactly. The
+lady with her people certainly went down, for I have seen a porter who
+helped her with her effects from the line to the steamboat pier at
+Ouchy."
+
+"And on board the steamer? Going in which direction?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"He shall tell you himself if I can find him when we reach the
+terminus. It may not be easy, but I could do it if--"
+
+Another and a third five-franc piece solved his doubts, and I
+abandoned my visit to the terminus hotel to seize this more tangible
+clue, and proceeded at once to the lake shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+On reaching the steamboat pier I was introduced to the porter, a
+shock-headed, stupid-looking creature, whom I forthwith questioned
+eagerly; but elicited only vague and, I felt sure, misleading replies.
+The conductor assisted at my interview, stimulating and encouraging
+the man to speak, and overdid it, as I thought. I strongly suspected
+that this new evidence had been produced in order to bleed me further.
+Had he really seen this English lady? Would he describe her appearance
+to me, and that of her companion? Was she tall or short? Well dressed,
+handsome, or the reverse? What was her companion like? Tall or short?
+How dressed, and did he suppose her condition to be that of a lady
+like the other, equal in rank, or an inferior?
+
+The answers I got were not encouraging. Ladies? Of course they were
+ladies, both of them. Dressed? In the very latest fashion. They were
+very distinguished people.
+
+"Were they carrying anything, either of them?" I inquired.
+
+"Yes, when I saw them first they had much baggage. It was for that
+they summoned me. Handbags, _sacs de nuit_, rugs, wrappers,
+bonnet-boxes, many things, like all travellers."
+
+"And you noticed nothing big, no parcel for which they were
+particularly concerned?"
+
+"They were anxious about everything, and worried me about everything,
+but about no one thing especially that I can remember."
+
+This did not tally with my own observation and the extreme care taken
+of the child in the woman's arms. I began to believe that my friend
+was a humbug and could tell me nothing of his own knowledge.
+
+"What time was it?" I went on.
+
+"Some hours ago. I did not look at the clock."
+
+"But you know by the steamers that arrive. You men must know which are
+due, and when they pass through."
+
+"Come, come, Antoine," broke in the conductor, determined to give him
+a lead, "you must know that; there are not so many. It would be about
+2 P.M., wouldn't it, when the express boat comes from Vevey and
+Bouveret?"
+
+"Yes, I make no doubt of that," said the man, with a gleam of
+intelligence upon his stolid face.
+
+"And the ladies went on board it, you say? Yes? You are sure?"
+
+"It must have been so; I certainly carried their traps on board."
+
+"Now, are you quite positive it was the two o'clock going that way,
+and not the quarter past two returning from Geneva?" I had my Bradshaw
+handy, and was following the time-table with my fingers.
+
+"The 2.15?" The gleam of light went out entirely from his stolid face.
+"I have an idea you are right, sir. You see the two boats come in so
+near each other and lie at the same pier. I could easily make a
+mistake between them."
+
+"It is my firm belief," I said, utterly disgusted with the fellow, "my
+firm belief that you have made a mistake all through. You never saw
+the ladies at all, either of you." I turned upon the conductor with a
+fierce scowl. "You are a rank humbug; you have taken my money under
+false pretences. I've a precious good mind to report you to your
+superiors, and insist upon your refunding the money. You've swindled
+me out of it, thief and liar that you are."
+
+"Come, come, don't speak so freely. My superiors will always listen
+first to one of their own employés, and it will be awkward if I charge
+you with obstructing an official and making false charges against
+him."
+
+Mine is a hasty temper; I am constrained to confess to a fault which
+often stood in my way especially in my particular business. The
+conductor's insolence irritated me beyond measure, and coming as it
+did on the top of bitter disappointment I was driven into a deplorable
+access of rage, which I shall always regret. Without another word I
+rushed at him, caught him by the throat, and shook him violently,
+throwing him to the ground and beating his head upon it savagely.
+
+Help must have come to him very speedily and to good purpose, for I
+soon found myself in custody, two colossal gendarmes holding me tight
+on each side. I was quickly removed like any malefactor to the lock-up
+in the town above, and was thus for the moment effectively precluded
+from continuing my pursuit.
+
+Law and order are not to be lightly trifled with in Switzerland, least
+of all in the Canton de Vaud. I had been taken in the very act of
+committing a savage assault upon an official in the execution of his
+duty, which is true to the extent that every Swiss official conceives
+it to be his duty to outrage the feelings and tyrannize over
+inoffensive strangers.
+
+The police of Lausanne showed me little consideration. I was not
+permitted to answer the charge against me, but was at once consigned
+to a cell, having been first searched and despoiled of all my
+possessions. Among them was my knife and a pocket revolver I generally
+carried, also my purse, my wallet with all my private papers, and my
+handbag. Both wallet and handbag were locked; they demanded the keys,
+thinking I had them hidden on my person, but I said they could find
+them for themselves, the truth being the locks were on a patent plan
+and could be opened with the fingers by any one who knew. This secret
+I chose to retain.
+
+When alone in my gloomy prison, with leisure to reflect more calmly on
+my painful position, I realized what an ass I had been, and I vented
+my wrath chiefly on myself. But it was idle to repine. My object now
+was to go free again at the earliest possible moment, and I cast about
+to see how I might best compass it.
+
+At first I was very humble, very apologetic. I acknowledged my error,
+and promised to do anything in my power to indemnify my victim. I
+offered him any money in reason, I would pay any sum they might fix,
+pay down on the nail and give my bond for the rest.
+
+My gaolers scouted the proposal indignantly. Did I think justice was
+to be bought in Switzerland? It was the law I had outraged, not an
+individual merely. Besides--money is all powerful in this venal
+country--how could I pay, a poor devil like me, the necessary price?
+what could I produce in cash on the nail? My bond would not be worth
+the paper it was written on.
+
+No, no, there was no chance for me; nothing could save me. I must go
+before the correctional police and pay in person for my offence. I
+might expect to be punished summarily, to be sent to gaol, to be laid
+by the heels for a month or two, perhaps more. Such a brutal assault
+as mine would be avenged handsomely.
+
+Now I changed my tactics. I began to bluster. I was a British subject
+and claimed to be treated with proper respect. I appealed to the
+British Consul; I insisted upon seeing him. When they laughed at me,
+saying that he would not interfere with the course of justice on
+behalf of such an unknown vagabond, I told them roundly that I was
+travelling under the special protection of the British Minister for
+Foreign Affairs, the illustrious Marquis of Lansdowne. Let them bring
+me my wallet. I would show them my passport bearing the Royal Arms and
+the signature of one of H.M. Secretaries of State. All of us in the
+employ of Messrs. Becke invariably carried Foreign Office passports as
+the best credentials we could produce if we were caught in any tight
+place.
+
+The greeting of so great a personage to his trusty and well beloved
+Ludovic Tiler had a very marked effect upon my captors. It was
+enhanced by the sight of a parcel of crisp Bank of England notes lying
+snugly in the pocket of the wallet, which I had opened, but without
+betraying the secret of the spring. When I extracted a couple of
+fivers and handed them to the chief gaoler, begging him to do the best
+for my comfort, the situation changed considerably, but no hopes were
+held out for my immediate release. I was promised dinner from a
+restaurant hard by, and was permitted to send a brief telegram to
+Falfani, to the effect that I was detained at Lausanne by unforeseen
+circumstances, but no more. Then bedding was brought in, on which,
+after a night in the train, I managed to sleep soundly enough until
+quite late next morning.
+
+I had summoned Eugène Falloon to my assistance, and he was permitted
+to visit me quite early, soon after the prison had opened. He was
+prompt and practical, and proceeded to perform the commissions I gave
+him with all despatch. I charged him first to telegraph to England, to
+our office, briefly stating my quandary, begging them to commend me to
+some one in Lausanne or Geneva, for Becke's have friends and
+correspondents in every city of the world. He was then to call upon
+the British Consul, producing my passport in proof of my claim upon
+him as a British subject in distress, and if necessary secure me legal
+advice. I had been warned that I might expect to be examined that very
+day, but that several were likely to elapse before the final disposal
+of my case.
+
+All that forenoon, and quite late into the next day, I was left
+brooding and chafing at my misfortune, self-inflicted I will confess,
+but not the less irksome to bear. I had almost persuaded myself that I
+should be left to languish here quite friendless and forgotten, when
+the luck turned suddenly, and daylight broke in to disperse my gloomy
+forebodings. Several visitors came, claiming to see me, and were
+presently admitted in turn. First came the Consul, and with him an
+intelligent Swiss advocate, who declared he would soon put matters
+right. It would only be a question of a fine, and binding me over to
+good behaviour on bail. Could I find bail? That was the only question.
+And while we still discussed it we found amongst the callers a
+respectable and well-to-do watchmaker from Geneva, who had been
+entreated (no doubt from Becke's) to do all that was needful on my
+behalf. I might be of good cheer; there was no reasonable doubt but
+that I should be released, but hardly before next day.
+
+A second night in durance was not much to my taste, but I bore it with
+as much resignation as I could command; and when next morning I
+appeared before the Court, I paid my fine of one hundred francs with
+hearty good-will. I assured my bail, the friendly watchmaker, that he
+need not have the smallest fear I should again commit myself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+My spirits rose with my release, but there was still more than freedom
+to encourage my light-heartedness. I heard now and definitely of my
+fugitive lady. Falloon had come upon undoubted evidence that she had
+never left the great Jura-Simplon station, but had remained quietly
+out of sight in the "ladies' waiting-room" until the next train left
+for Geneva. This was at 1.35 P.M., and she must have slipped away
+right under my eyes into the very train which had brought me back from
+Vevey. So near are the chances encountered in such a profession as
+ours.
+
+Falloon had only ascertained this positively on the second day of my
+detention, but with it the information that only two first-class
+tickets, both for Geneva, had been issued by that train. To make it
+all sure he had taken the precaution to ask at all the stations along
+the line at which the train had stopped, seven in number, and had
+learned that no persons answering to my ladies had alighted at any of
+them. So my search was carried now to Geneva, and it might be possible
+to come upon my people there, although I was not oversanguine. I knew
+something of the place. I had been there more than once, had stayed
+some time, and I knew too well that it is a city with many issues,
+many facilities for travelling, and, as they had so much reason for
+moving on rapidly, the chances were that they would have already
+escaped me.
+
+However, with Falloon I proceeded to Geneva without delay, and began a
+systematic search. We made exhaustive inquiries at the Cornavin
+station, where we arrived from Lausanne, and heard something.
+
+The party had certainly been seen at this very station. Two ladies,
+one tall, the other short, with a baby. They had gone no further then;
+they had not returned to the station since. So far good. But there was
+a second station, the Gare des Vollondes, at the opposite end of the
+city, from which ran the short line to Bouveret on the south shore of
+the lake, and I sent Falloon there to inquire, giving him a rendezvous
+an hour later at the Café de la Couronne on the Quai du Lac. Meanwhile
+I meant to take all the hotels in regular order, and began with those
+of the first class on the right bank, the Beau Rivage, the Russie, de
+la Paix, National, Des Bergues, and the rest. As I drew blank
+everywhere I proceeded to try the hotels on the left bank, and made
+for the Pont de Mont Blanc to cross the Rhone, pointing for the
+Metropole.
+
+Now my luck again greatly favoured me. Just as I put my foot upon the
+bridge I saw a figure approaching me, coming from the opposite
+direction.
+
+I recognized it instantly. It was the lady herself.
+
+She must have seen me at the very same moment, for she halted dead
+with the abruptness of one faced with a sudden danger, an opened
+precipice, or a venomous snake under foot. She looked hurriedly to
+right and left, as if seeking some loophole of escape.
+
+At that moment one of the many electric trams that overspread Geneva
+with a network of lines came swinging down the Rue de Mont Blanc from
+the Cornavin station, and slackened speed at the end of the bridge. My
+lady made up her mind then and there, and as it paused she boarded it
+with one quick, agile spring.
+
+With no less prompt decision I followed her, and we entered the car
+almost simultaneously.
+
+There were only two seats vacant and, curiously enough, face to face.
+I took my place, not ill pleased, for she had already seen me, and I
+was anxious to know how my sudden reappearance would affect her. It
+was clear she did not relish it, or she would not have turned tail at
+our unexpected meeting.
+
+I had not long to wait. She chose her line at once, and without
+hesitation addressed me, smiling and unabashed. Her self-possession, I
+had almost said her effrontery, took me quite aback.
+
+"Surely I am not mistaken?" she began quite coolly. "Have I not to
+thank you for your courtesy in the train a couple of days ago?"
+
+I stammered a halting affirmative.
+
+"I am afraid you must have thought me very rude. I ran off without a
+word, didn't I? The truth was my child had been suddenly taken ill and
+the nurse had to leave the train hurriedly. She had only just time to
+catch me and prevent me from going on. I am sorry. I should have liked
+to say good-bye."
+
+"Make no apologies, I beg," I hastened to say courteously. But in my
+heart I trembled. What could this mean? Some fresh trick? She was so
+desperately full of guile!
+
+"But I thought you were bound for the other end of the lake," she
+continued. "Do you make a long stay at Geneva?"
+
+"No. Do you?" I retorted.
+
+"Probably. I begin to like the place, and I have found very
+comfortable quarters at the Hôtel Cornavin, near the station. You may
+know it."
+
+Could this be really so? Her perfect frankness amazed me. I could not
+credit it, much less understand it. There was surely some pitfall,
+some trap concealed for my abounding credulity.
+
+"I also propose to stay some days, but am not yet established." I made
+so bold as to suggest that I had a great mind to try her Hôtel
+Cornavin.
+
+"Why not?" she replied heartily. "The accommodation is good, nice
+rooms, civil people, decent _cuisine_. It might suit you."
+
+She could not possibly have been more civil and gracious. Too civil by
+half, a more cautious man might have told himself.
+
+The tram-car by this time had run through the Place Molard, the
+Allemand Marché, and was turning into the Rue de la Corraterie,
+pointing upward for the theatre and the Promenade des Bastions. Where
+was my involuntary companion bound?
+
+She settled the question by getting out at the Place Neuve with a few
+parting words.
+
+"I have a call to make near here. I had forgotten it. Perhaps I may
+hope to see you again. Do try the Cornavin. If so, _sans adieu_."
+
+Was it good enough? I could not allow her to slip through my fingers
+like this. What if her whole story was untrue, what if there was no
+Hôtel Cornavin, and no such guests there? I could not afford to let
+her out of my sight, and with one spring I also left the car and,
+catching a last glimpse of her retreating skirts, gave chase.
+
+I cannot say whether she realized that I was following, but she led me
+a pretty dance. In and out, and round and round, by narrow streets and
+dark passages, backwards and forwards, as adroitly as any practised
+thief eluding the hot pursuit of the police. At last she paused and
+looked back, and thinking she had shaken me off (for knowing the game
+well I had hastily effaced myself in a doorway) plunged into the
+entrance of a small unpretending hotel in a quiet, retired square--the
+Hôtel Pierre Fatio, certainly not the Cornavin.
+
+The door in which I had taken shelter was that of a dark third-rate
+café well suited to my purpose, and well placed, for I was in full
+view of the Hôtel Pierre Fatio, which I was resolved to watch at least
+until my lady came out again. As I slowly absorbed an absinthe,
+revolving events past and to come, I thought it would be well to draw
+Falloon to me. It was past the hour for our meeting.
+
+I scribbled three lines of a note and despatched it to the Café de la
+Couronne by a messenger to whom I fully described my colleague's
+appearance, desiring him to show the addressed envelope before
+delivery, but having no doubt that it would reach its destination.
+
+Presently Falloon joined me, and as my lady had as yet made no sign, I
+bade him continue the watch, while I left the café openly and
+ostentatiously, so that it might be seen by any one curious to know
+that I had given up the game.
+
+Far from it. I designed only to try the Hôtel Cornavin to ascertain
+the real facts; and if, as I shrewdly suspected, I had been fooled,
+to return forthwith and rejoin Falloon at the true point of interest,
+taking such further steps as might seem desirable. I was chiefly
+anxious to regain touch and combine forces with Falfani.
+
+There was no mistake, however, at the Cornavin Hôtel. I had not been
+fooled. I was told directly I asked at the bureau that a Mrs. Blair,
+accompanied by her maid and child, was staying in the house. Could I
+see her? If monsieur would send up his card, it should be given her on
+her return. She was not at home for the moment. (I knew that.) Would
+monsieur call again?
+
+I was slow to congratulate myself on what seemed a point gained, for I
+had still my misgivings, but I would make the most of the chances that
+offered to my hand. I secured a room at the Cornavin Hôtel, and
+bespoke another for Falfani, whom I should now summon at once. With
+this idea I took the earliest opportunity of telegraphing to him as
+follows:
+
+     "Detained by unfortunate _contretemps_ at Lausanne, happily
+     surmounted, clue lost and regained. Desire your
+     coöperation. Come instantly, Hôtel Cornavin. She is here.
+
+     "LUDOVIC."
+
+I noted the time of despatch, 4.17 P.M. It would surely reach
+Falfani before the last train left Brieg coming my way, and I hardly
+trusted myself to anticipate the comfort and relief his appearance
+would bring me. Combined we could tie ourselves to our quarry, and
+never let her out of sight until our principals could take over and
+settle the business.
+
+Then hailing a cab, I drove to a point close by where I had left
+Falloon, and found the situation entirely unchanged. No one had come
+out of the Hôtel Pierre Fatio. Mrs. Blair was paying a very long call,
+and I could not understand it. All the time I was haunted with a vague
+and ever present idea that she meant to sell me. The more I tortured
+my brain to consider how, the less I was able to fathom her
+intentions.
+
+The time ran on, and I thought it would be prudent to return to my own
+hotel. Mrs. Blair might have given us the slip, might have left by
+some other issue, and I felt that my place was at the Cornavin, where
+at least I knew she was staying. Falloon should stand his ground
+where he was, but I fully impressed upon him the importance of the
+duty entrusted to him.
+
+I blessed my stars that I so decided. Mrs. Blair had not returned when
+the _table d'hôte_ bell rang at the Cornavin, but I had hardly
+swallowed the first spoonful of soup when Falloon appeared, hot and
+flurried, with very startling news.
+
+"_Elle se sauve._ She is saving herself; she is running away," he
+cried. "Already her carriage enters the station--without doubt she
+seeks the train for somewhere."
+
+I jumped up, rushed from the room, caught up my hat, and hurried
+across the Square of Place Cornavin into the station. It was a clear
+case of bolt. There she was ahead of me, quite unmistakable, walking
+quickly, with her fine upright figure clad in the same pearl gray
+ulster she had worn in the tram-car. She passed through the open doors
+of the waiting-room on to the platform where the train was waiting
+with engine attached.
+
+"The 7.35 for Culoz and beyond by Amberieu to Paris," I was informed
+on inquiry.
+
+"A double back," I concluded on the spot. She had had enough of it,
+and was going home again. In another minute or two she would have
+eluded me once more.
+
+My only chance now lay in prompt action. I, too, must travel by this
+train. To secure a ticket and board it was soon done. I chose a
+carriage at no great distance from that she had entered; a through
+carriage to Maçon, and which I was resolved to watch closely, but yet
+I did not mean to show myself to its occupants if it could be helped.
+
+As we were on the point of starting, I scribbled a few lines on a leaf
+torn from my pocket-book to inform Falfani of my hasty departure and
+the reason for it. This I folded carefully and addressed to him,
+entrusting it to Falloon, who was to seek out my colleague at the
+Hôtel Cornavin after the arrival of the late train from Brieg, and
+deliver it. At the same time I handed Falloon a substantial fee, but
+desired him to offer his services to Falfani.
+
+I saw no more of the lady. She did not show at Bellegarde when the
+French Customs' examination took place, nor yet at Culoz, and I
+believed she was now committed to the journey northward. But as I was
+dozing in my place and the train slowed on entering Amberieu, the
+guard whom I had suborned came to me with a hurried call.
+
+"Monsieur, monsieur, you must be quick. Madame has descended and is
+just leaving the station. No doubt for the Hôtel de France, just
+opposite."
+
+There she was indeed with all her belongings. (How well I knew them by
+this time!) The maid with her child in arms, the porter with the light
+baggage.
+
+I quickened my pace and entered the hotel almost simultaneously with
+her. Ranging up alongside I said, not without exultation:
+
+"Geneva was not so much to your taste, then? You have left rather
+abruptly."
+
+"To whom are you speaking, sir?" she replied in a stiff, strange
+voice, assumed, I felt sure, for the occasion. She was so closely
+veiled that I could not see her face, but it was the same figure, the
+same costume, the same air. Lady Blackadder that was, Mrs. Blair as
+she now chose to call herself, I could have sworn to her among a
+thousand.
+
+"It won't do, madame," I insisted. "I'm not to be put off. I know all
+about it, and I've got you tight, and I'm not going to leave go again.
+No fear." I meant to spend the night on guard, watching and waiting
+till I was relieved by the arrival of the others, to whom I
+telegraphed without delay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+[_Colonel Annesley resumes._]
+
+
+I left my narrative at the moment when I had promised my help to the
+lady I found in such distress in the Engadine express. I promised it
+unconditionally, and although there were circumstances in her case to
+engender suspicion, I resolutely ignored them. It was her secret, and
+I was bound to respect it, content to await the explanation I felt
+sure she could make when so minded.
+
+It was at dinner in the dining-car, under the eyes of her persecutor,
+that we arranged to give him the slip at Basle. It was cleverly
+accomplished, I think.
+
+[_Here the Colonel gives an account of all that happened between Basle
+and Brieg; and as the incidents have been already described by Falfani
+it is unnecessary to retell them, except to note that Annesley had
+quickly discovered the detective's escape outside Goeschenen and lost
+no time in giving chase._]
+
+As may be supposed I rejoiced greatly on reaching Brieg to find that
+Falfani had been bitterly disappointed. It was plain from the telegram
+that was handed to him on arrival, and which so upset him that he
+suffered me to take it out of his hand and to read it for myself, that
+a friend, his colleague, no doubt, had been checked summarily at
+Lausanne. He said he had lost "her," the lady of course.
+
+I was not altogether happy in my mind about her, for when we had
+parted at Brieg it had been settled that she should take the Simplon
+route through this very place Brieg, at which I now found myself so
+unexpectedly, and I ought to have come upon her or had news of her
+somewhere had her plans been carried out. She certainly had not
+reached Brieg, for with my ally l'Echelle we searched the town for
+news of her that night and again next morning.
+
+The situation was embarrassing. I could decide upon no clear course
+but that of holding on to Falfani and clinging to him with the very
+skin of my teeth; any light must come from or through him, or at least
+by keeping him in full view I might prevent him from doing any more
+mischief.
+
+One of us, l'Echelle or myself, continually watched him all that day,
+the third of this curious imbroglio into which I was plunged. At night
+I took the strong and unjustifiable measure of locking him into his
+room.
+
+When he discovered it next morning he was furious, and came straight
+at me open-mouthed.
+
+"I'll appeal to the law, I'll denounce you to the authorities, I'll
+charge you with persecution and with false imprisonment. You shall be
+arrested. I'll be rid of you somehow, you shall not stay here, you
+shall leave Brieg."
+
+"With all my heart--when you do. Have I not told you that already?
+Where you go I go, where you stay I stay."
+
+"But it is most monstrous and abominable. I will not submit to it. You
+have no sort of right to act in this way. Why is it?"
+
+"You can guess my reasons, surely. Only it is not for your _beaux
+yeux_; not because I like you. I loathe and detest you. You are a low,
+slimy spy, who richly deserves to be thrashed for bullying a lady."
+
+"I'll have you to know, sir, that I am fully entitled to act as I am
+doing," he said with a consequential air. "I am the representative of
+a court of law; I have great people at my back, people who will soon
+bring you to book. Wait a little, we shall see. You'll sing a very
+poor song when you have to do with a nobleman. The Right Honourable
+the Earl of Blackadder will arrive shortly. I hope this very
+afternoon. You can settle it with him, ah! How do you like that, eh?"
+
+I laughed him to scorn.
+
+"Psha, man, you're an ass. I've told you before now what I think of
+Lord Blackadder, and if it be necessary I'll tell him to his face when
+he gets here."
+
+This conversation took place just before the _table-d'hôte_ luncheon,
+and immediately afterwards Falfani went out in the direction of the
+railway station. I followed, keeping him in sight on the platform,
+where, by and by, I saw him, hat in hand, bowing obsequiously before a
+passenger who alighted from the incoming train. It would have been
+enough for me had I not already known Lord Blackadder by sight. They
+walked back together to the hotel, and so, at a certain distance, did
+I.
+
+I was lounging about outside the house, wondering what would happen
+next, when a waiter came out to me bearing a card, which he tendered,
+bowing low, more in deference to the card, as I thought, than to me.
+
+"Earl of Blackadder" was the name engraved, and written just below in
+pencil were the words, "would like to speak to Colonel Annesley at
+once."
+
+"Well, I've no objection," I began, stiffly. I thought the summons a
+trifle too peremptory. "Where is he?"
+
+The waiter pointed back to the hotel, and I saw a white, evil face
+glowering at me from a window on the ground floor of the hotel. The
+very look on it stirred my bile. It was an assumption of superiority,
+of concentrated pride and exaggerated authority, as though everyone
+must yield to his lightest wish and humble himself in the dust before
+him. I resented this, and slipping the card carelessly in my pocket, I
+nodded to the waiter, who still stood awaiting my reply.
+
+"Will monsieur come?" he asked.
+
+"No. Tell his lordship he will find me here if he wants me. That will
+do," and I waved him off.
+
+Soon afterwards Lord Blackadder came out. Mahomet came to the
+mountain. I liked his face less than ever. It wore an angry scowl
+now; his dark eyes glittered balefully under the close-knit eyebrows,
+his lips were drawn down, and the curved nose was like the aggressive
+beak of a bird of prey.
+
+"Colonel Annesley, I understand," he said coldly, contemptuously, just
+lifting one finger towards the brim of his hat.
+
+"That is my name," I responded, without returning the salute.
+
+"I am Lord Blackadder; you will have had my card. I desired to address
+you somewhat more privately than this." He looked round the open yard
+in front of the hotel. "May I hope you will accompany me to my rooms?
+I have to speak to you on a matter that concerns you very closely."
+
+"That I cannot admit. There can be nothing between you and me, Lord
+Blackadder, that concerns me very closely; nothing that the whole
+world may not hear."
+
+"What I have to say might prove very unpleasant to you in the telling,
+Colonel Annesley. You would be well advised in agreeing that our
+interview should be private."
+
+"I can't see it, and I must tell you plainly that I do not care one
+jot. Say what you please, my lord, and, if you like, as loud as you
+please, only be quick about it."
+
+"With all my heart, then, if you will have it so. I wish to tell you,
+Colonel Annesley, that you have taken a most unwarrantable liberty in
+mixing yourself up with my affairs."
+
+"I am not aware that I have done so."
+
+"You shall not trifle with me, sir. Your conduct is inexcusable,
+ungentlemanlike."
+
+"Take care, my lord," I broke in hotly.
+
+"People who forget themselves so far as you have done must accept the
+responsibility of their own actions; and I tell you, here and now,
+that I shall call you to strict account for yours."
+
+The man was trying me hard, but still I strove to keep my temper.
+
+"I don't care that for your opinion, and I do not allow that you are a
+judge of what is gentlemanlike. No one would do so who had read the
+public prints lately."
+
+"How dare you, sir, refer to my conduct, or presume to criticize or
+question it?" he burst out.
+
+"Ta, ta, ta! It is a real pleasure to me to tell you what I think of
+you, Lord Blackadder; and as I am ready to give you every
+satisfaction, I shall not stint myself."
+
+"I insist upon satisfaction."
+
+"By all means. It can be easily arranged. We are within a short step
+of either France or Italy, and in both countries the old-fashioned
+plan of settling affairs of honour is still in force. We shall find
+friendly seconds in the nearest garrison town, and I shall be glad to
+cross the frontier with you whenever you please."
+
+"You talk like the hectoring, swashbuckling bully that you are," he
+cried angrily, but looking rather uncomfortable.... "I will swear the
+peace against you."
+
+"Do so by all means. It would be like you. A man who would descend to
+espionage, who could so cruelly misuse a lady, is capable of anything;
+of making assertions he cannot substantiate, of threatening things he
+dare not do."
+
+"I have the clearest proof of what I say. You have chosen to come into
+my life--"
+
+"I should be extremely sorry to do so."
+
+"Will you deny that you have sided with my enemies, that you have
+joined and abetted them in a base plot to defraud and rob me of
+my--my--property, of that which I most highly value and cherish of
+all my possessions?"
+
+"I don't know what you are talking about, Lord Blackadder, but
+whatever your grievance I tell you candidly that I do not like your
+tone or your manner, and I shall hold no further converse with you."
+
+I turned my back on him and walked away.
+
+"Stay, stay. You must and shall hear me out. I've not done with you."
+He came hurrying after me, following close and raising his voice
+higher and higher. "Your very presence here is an offence. You have no
+right to be here at all."
+
+"Do you think that you own all Switzerland, my noble earl?" I answered
+over my shoulder as I walked on. "It is not your ground to warn me
+off."
+
+"I tell you you shall not remain here to annoy me and work against me.
+I forbid it, and I will put a stop to it. I give you plain warning."
+
+"You know you are talking nonsense. I shall go my own road, and I defy
+you to do your worst."
+
+Here, when I was on the threshold of the hotel, I met Falfani full,
+as he came running out excitedly, holding in his hand the telltale
+blue envelope, which, with his elated air, indicated clearly that he
+had just received important news.
+
+I paused for a moment, hoping he might commit himself, and was
+rewarded by hearing him say aloud:
+
+"It is from Geneva, my lord, from Ludovic Tiler," he began
+indiscreetly, and was angrily silenced by my lord, who called him "a
+triple-dyed idiot," and with a significant gesture towards me bade him
+walk away to some distance from the hotel.
+
+The mischief was done, however, for I had of course heard enough to
+know that the other detective had given signs of life at last, and
+that the report, to judge by Falfani's glee, must be satisfactory. The
+more pleased the other side, the more reason to fear that matters were
+adverse on ours.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+It might be thought that I was too hard on my Lord Blackadder, but
+only those few indeed who were unacquainted with the circumstances of
+his divorce would find fault with me. The scandal was quite recent,
+and the Blackadder case had been in everybody's mouth. The papers had
+been full of it, and the proceedings were not altogether to his
+lordship's credit. They had been instituted by him, however, on
+grounds that induced the jury to give him a verdict, and the judge had
+pronounced a decree nisi on the evidence as it stood.
+
+Yet the public sympathies were generally with the respondent, the
+Countess of Blackadder. It had been an unhappy marriage, an
+ill-assorted match, mercenary, of mere convenience, forced upon an
+innocent and rather weak girl by careless and callous guardians, eager
+to rid themselves of responsibility for the two twin sisters, Ladies
+Claire and Henriette Standish, orphans, and with no near relations.
+
+Lord Blackadder was immensely rich, but a man of indifferent moral
+character, a _roué_ and a voluptuary, with a debilitated constitution
+and an unattractive person, possessing none of the gifts that take a
+maiden's fancy.
+
+Estrangement soon followed the birth of the son and heir to his title
+and great estates. My lord was a great deal older than his beautiful
+young wife, and desperately jealous of her. Distrust grew into strong
+suspicion, and presently consumed him when an old flame of Lady
+Henriette's, Charlie Forrester, of the Dark Horse, turned up from
+foreign service, and their names came to be bracketed together by the
+senseless gossiping busybodies ever ready to tear a pretty woman's
+reputation to tatters. It was so much put about, so constantly dinned
+into Lord Blackadder's ears, that he was goaded into a perfect fury,
+and was at length determined, by hook or by crook, to put away his
+wife, leaving it to certain astute and well-practised solicitors to
+manufacture a clear, solid case against her.
+
+Lady Blackadder, who hated and despised her lord, foolishly played
+into his hands. She never really went wrong, so her friends stoutly
+averred, especially her sister Claire, a staunch and loyal soul, but
+she gave a handle to innuendo, and more than once allowed appearances
+to go against her.
+
+There was one very awkward story that could not be disproved as it was
+told, and in the upshot convicted her. It was clearly shown in
+evidence that she had made up her mind to leave Lord Blackadder; more,
+that she meant to elope with Major Forrester. It was said, but not so
+positively, that she had met him at Victoria Station; they were seen
+there together, had travelled by the same train, and there was a
+strong presumption that they had arrived together at Brighton; one or
+two railway officials deposed to the fact.
+
+Lady Blackadder denied this entirely, and gave a very different
+complexion to the story. She had gone to Brighton; yes, but quite
+alone. Major Forrester had seen her off, no doubt, but they had parted
+at the carriage door. Her visit to Brighton had been for the purpose
+of seeing and staying with an old servant, once a very confidential
+maid for whom she had a great liking, and had often taken refuge with
+when worried and in trouble. She thought, perhaps, to make this the
+first stage in the rupture with my lord.
+
+This maid had earnestly adjured her not to break with her husband, and
+to return to Grosvenor Square.
+
+This flight was the head and corner-stone of Lady Blackadder's
+offending. It was interpreted into guilt of the most heinous kind; the
+evidence in support of it seemed overwhelming. Witnesses swore
+positively to the companionship of Major Forrester, both at Victoria
+and Brighton, and it was to be fairly assumed that they were at the
+latter place together.
+
+No rebutting evidence was forthcoming. The maid, a woman married to an
+ex-French or Swiss courier, by name Bruel, could not be produced,
+simply because she could not be found in Brighton. They were supposed
+to be settled there as lodging-house keepers, but they had not resided
+long enough to be in the Directory, and their address was not known.
+Lord Blackadder's case was that they were pure myths, they had never
+had any tangible existence, but were only imported into the case to
+support an ingenious but untenable defence.
+
+It was more than hinted that they had been spirited away, and they
+were not the first material witnesses, it was hinted, in an intricate
+case, conducted by Messrs. Gadecker and Gobye, who had mysteriously
+disappeared. So the plausible, nay, completely satisfactory
+explanation of Lady Blackadder's visit to Brighton could not be put
+forward, much less established, and there was no sort of hope for her.
+She lost her case in the absence of the Bruels, man and wife. The
+verdict was for Lord Blackadder, and he was adjudged to have the care
+and custody of the child, the infant Viscount Aspdale.
+
+I had not the smallest doubt when I realized with whom I had to do
+that the unhappy mother had made a desperate effort to redress her
+wrongs, as she thought them, and had somehow contrived to carry off
+her baby before she could be deprived of it.
+
+I had met her in full flight upon the Engadine express.
+
+What next? Was she to be overtaken and despoiled, legally, of course,
+but still cruelly, separated from her own flesh and blood? The Court
+might order such an unnatural proceeding, but I was moved by every
+chivalrous impulse to give her my unstinting and unhesitating support
+to counteract it.
+
+I was full of these thoughts, and still firmly resolved to help Lady
+Blackadder, when l'Echelle, the conductor whose services I still
+retained, sought me out hurriedly, and told me that he believed the
+others were on the point of leaving Brieg.
+
+"I saw Falfani and milord poring over the pages of the _Indicateur_,
+and heard the word Geneva dropped in a whisper. I think they mean to
+take the next train along the lake shore."
+
+"Not a doubt of it," I assented; "so will we. They must not be allowed
+to go beyond our reach."
+
+When the 6.57 P.M. for Geneva was due out from Brieg, we,
+l'Echelle and I, appeared on the platform, and our intention to travel
+by it was made plain to Lord Blackadder. The effect upon him was
+painfully manifest at once. He chafed, he raged up and down, grimacing
+and apostrophizing Falfani; once or twice he approached me with
+clenched fists, and I really thought would have struck me at last.
+Seeing me enter the same carriage with him, with the obvious intention
+of keeping him under my eye, he threw himself back among the cushions
+and yielded himself with the worst grace to the inevitable.
+
+The railway journey was horribly slow, and it must have been past 11
+P.M. before we reached Geneva. We alighted in the Cornavin
+station, and as they moved at once towards the exit I followed. I
+expected them to take a carriage and drive off, and was prepared to
+give chase, when I found they started on foot, evidently to some
+destination close at hand. It proved to be the Cornavin Hôtel, not a
+stone's-throw from the station.
+
+They entered, and went straight to the bureau, where the night clerk
+was at his desk. I heard them ask for a person named Tiler, and
+without consulting his books the clerk replied angrily:
+
+"Tiler! Tiler! _Ma foi_, he is of no account, your Tiler. He has gone
+off from the dinner-table and without paying his bill."
+
+"That shall be made all right," replied Lord Blackadder loftily, as he
+detailed his name and quality, before which the employé bowed low.
+"And might I ask," his lordship went on, "whether a certain Mrs.
+Blair, a lady with her child and its nurse, is staying in the hotel?"
+
+"But certainly, milord. They have been here some days. Salon and suite
+No. 17."
+
+"At any rate, that's well, Falfani," said Lord Blackadder, with a sigh
+of satisfaction. "But what of your friend Tiler? Thick-headed dolt,
+unable to keep awake, I suppose."
+
+At that moment a shabbily dressed person approached Falfani, touched
+his hat, and offered him a note, saying:
+
+"This must be for you, monsieur. I heard your name--"
+
+"From Tiler, my lord, aha! This explains." And he passed the scrap of
+paper on to his employer.
+
+"I'll be hanged if I see it! He says the parties have gone, and that
+he is in close attendance; yet this fellow here," pointing to the
+clerk, "assures us she is in this very house. I don't understand it,
+by Gad!"
+
+"There is some fresh trick, my lord, you may be sure. The devil
+himself isn't half so clever as this fine lady. But we'll get at the
+bottom of it. We shall hear more from Tiler, and we've got the lady
+here, under our hand."
+
+"Ah! but have we? This chap's as likely as not to be mistaken. How do
+you know, sir," to the clerk, "that Mrs. Blair is still in the hotel?
+When did you come on duty? What if she left without your knowing it?"
+
+"It could not be, milord. See, it is marked in the register. No. 17 is
+occupied. I could not let it. Mrs. Blair holds it still."
+
+"But she may not be in it, all the same. Can't you see? She may retain
+it, but not use it."
+
+"Look, my lord, look, there's one of her party, anyway," interposed
+Falfani, and he called his attention to a female figure standing a
+little aloof in the shadow of the staircase, and which I had already
+recognized.
+
+It was Philpotts, "Mrs. Blair's" maid, and she was trying to attract
+my attention. Lord Blackadder had not seen her, and now his eye, for
+the first time, fell upon me. He turned on me furiously.
+
+"You! You! Still at my heels? This is perfectly monstrous. It amounts
+to persecution. You still dare to intrude yourself. Can I have no
+privacy? Take yourself off, or I will not answer for the
+consequences."
+
+I confess I only laughed and still held my ground, although my lord's
+outcry had attracted much attention. Several people ran up, and they
+might have sided against me, when I heard a voice whisper into my ear:
+
+"Come, sir, come. Slip away. My lady is dying to see you. She is
+terribly upset."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+I was received with great warmth and cordiality by my friend, and it
+was made clear to me that my opportune appearance brought her great
+comfort and support.
+
+"I never hoped for such good fortune as this," she began heartily. "I
+had no idea you were within miles, and was repining bitterly that I
+had let you get so far out of the way. Now you appear in the very nick
+of time, just when I was almost in despair. But wait. Can I still
+count upon your help?"
+
+"Why, most certainly, Lady Blackadder."
+
+"Lady Black--" She was looking at me very keenly, and, as I thought,
+was much startled and surprised. Then with a conscious blush she went
+on. "Of course, I might have guessed you would penetrate my disguise,
+but you must not call me Lady Blackadder. I can lay no claim to the
+title."
+
+"May I be forgiven if I trench on such a delicate subject, and assure
+you of my most sincere sympathy? Everybody felt for you deeply. I
+hope you will believe that I am, and ever shall be, at your orders and
+devoted to your service."
+
+"Yes, yes, I am sure of it; I know I can depend upon you fully, and I
+mean to do so now at once. You know, you have heard, that Lord
+Blackadder is here, and actually in this hotel?"
+
+"I came with him. I was watching that fellow, the detective Falfani,
+when his lordship came upon the scene. We had words, a quarrel, almost
+a fight."
+
+"Pfu! He would not fight! I only wish you had thrashed him as he
+deserves. But that won't help matters now. How am I to escape him?"
+
+"With the child?"
+
+"To be sure. Of course, I do not fear him in the least for myself."
+
+"You want to keep the child?"
+
+"Naturally, as I carried it off."
+
+"And still more because you had the best right to it, whatever the
+Court might direct. You are its mother."
+
+Again she blushed and smiled, rather comically. "I certainly shall not
+surrender it to Lord Blackadder, not without a struggle. Yet he is
+very near getting it now."
+
+"In there?" I nodded towards the next room. "It is a close thing. How
+are you to manage it?"
+
+"There would not have been the slightest difficulty; it was all but
+done, and then some one, something, failed me. I expected too much
+perhaps, but I have been bitterly disappointed, and the danger has
+revived."
+
+"Come, come, Lady Blackadder, keep up your courage. Let us take
+counsel together. We can surely devise some fresh plan. Don't give way
+now; you have been so plucky all through. Be brave still."
+
+"Thank you, Colonel Annesley, I will." She put out her hand with
+enchanting frankness, her fine eyes shining gratefully. A man would
+have dared much, endured much, to win such gracious approval.
+
+"It is getting late, but you must hear all I have to tell before we
+can decide upon the next step. Will you listen to me? I shall not bore
+you. It is a long story. First let me clear the ground a little. I
+must disabuse your mind on one point. I am not Lady Blackadder--no,
+no, do not misunderstand me--not on account of the divorce, but I
+never was Lady Blackadder. She was Henriette Standish. I am Claire,
+her sister Claire."
+
+"What a fool I've been!" I cried. "I might have guessed."
+
+"How should you? But let me go on. I shall never forget that
+detestable trial, those awful days in the Divorce Court, when the
+lawyers fought and wrangled over my darling sister, like dogs over a
+bone, tearing and snarling at each other, while the judge sat above
+like a solemn old owl, never moving or making a sign.
+
+"Henriette positively refused to appear in the case, although she was
+pressed and entreated by her legal advisers. She could have thrown so
+much light on the worst and darkest part. She could have repudiated
+the cowardly charges made, and cast back the lies drawn round her to
+ruin her. If the jury had but seen her pretty, pathetic face, and
+heard from her own sweet lips all she had endured, they would have
+come to a very different verdict.
+
+"But she would not come forward on her own behalf. She would not
+defend the action; she did not want to win it, but waited till it was
+all over, hiding herself away in a far-off corner of the Apennines,
+where I was to join her with the child, little Ralph.
+
+"There had been no question of that; the possibility of her losing it
+had never been raised, or she would have nerved herself to fight
+sooner than give up what she valued more than her very life.
+
+"It fell upon me with crushing effect, although towards the end of the
+trial I had had my forebodings. Lord Blackadder was to have the
+custody of his heir, and my dear sweet Henriette was to be robbed for
+ever of her chiefest joy and treasure. The infant child was to be
+abandoned to strangers, paid by its unnatural and unfeeling father.
+
+"I had braced myself to listen to all that came out in court, a whole
+tissue of lies told by perjured wretches whose evidence was accepted
+as gospel--one of them was the same Falfani whom you know, and who had
+acted the loathsome part of spy on several occasions.
+
+"Directly the judge had issued his cruel fiat, I slipped out, hurried
+down-stairs into the Strand, jumped into a hansom, and was driven at
+top speed to Hamilton Terrace, bent upon giving instant effect to a
+scheme I had long since devised.
+
+"I found my faithful Philpotts awaiting me with everything prepared as
+I had arranged. The dear baby was dressed quickly--he was as good as
+gold--the baggage, enough for my hurried journey to Fuentellato, had
+been packed for days past, and we took the road.
+
+"I knew that pursuit would not tarry, but I was satisfied that I had
+made a good start, and I hoped to make my way through to Italy without
+interference. When I first saw you at Calais I was seized with a
+terrible fear, which was soon allayed; you did not look much like a
+detective, and you were already my good friend when the real ruffian,
+Falfani, came on board the train at Amiens."
+
+[_Lady Claire Standish passed on next to describe her journey from
+Basle to Lausanne, and the clever way in which she eluded the second
+detective--matters on which the reader has been already informed._]
+
+"On reaching Geneva I at once opened communications with Henriette. I
+felt satisfied, now that I had come so far, it would be well that she
+should join me, and that we should concert together as to our next
+proceedings. Our first and principal aim was to retain the child at
+all costs and against all comers. I had no precise knowledge as to
+where we should be beyond the jurisdiction of the English law, but I
+could not believe that the Divorce Court and its emissaries could
+interfere with us in a remote Italian village. My real fear was of
+Lord Blackadder. He was so bold and unscrupulous that, if the law
+would not help him, he would try stratagem, or even force. We should
+be really safe nowhere if we once came within his reach, and, the best
+plan to keep out of his clutches was to hide our whereabouts from him.
+
+"Fuentellato would not do, for although I do not believe he knew the
+exact spot in which Henriette had taken refuge, he must have guessed
+something from the direction of my journey, and that I was on my way
+to join her. If he failed to intercept me _en route_, he would make
+his way straight there. I had resolved he should not find us, but
+where else should we go? Farther afield, if necessary to the very end
+of the world. Lord Blackadder, we might be sure, would hunt high and
+low to recover his lost heir, sparing no expense, neglecting no means.
+
+"It was, however, essential to elude his agents, who were so near at
+hand and likely to press me close. That was another reason for drawing
+my sister to me. I had hit upon a cunning device, as I thought it, to
+confuse and deceive my pursuers, to throw them on to a false scent,
+lead them to follow a red herring, while the fox, free of the hunt,
+took another line."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+"There should be two Richmonds in the field! That was my grand idea.
+Two sets, two parties, each of them consisting of one lady, one maid,
+and one baby, exactly similar and indistinguishable. When the time was
+ripe we should separate, and each would travel in opposite directions,
+and I hoped to show sufficient guile to induce my persecutors to give
+chase to the wrong quarry. Run it to the death, while the party got
+clear away.
+
+"I had made a nice calculation. Fuentellato was at no great distance
+from Parma, on the main line of railway. If she started at once, via
+Piacenza to Turin, she could catch the Mont Cenis express through to
+Modane and Culoz, where she could change for Geneva, so as to reach me
+some time on Tuesday.
+
+"This was exactly what happened. My sister carried out my instructions
+to the letter, and I met her here on arrival. I had taken up my
+quarters in this hotel because it was so near the station, but I
+thought it prudent that Henriette should lodge somewhere else, the
+farther the better, and she went to a small place, the Hôtel Pierre
+Fatio, at the other end of the town.
+
+"It is a long story, Colonel Annesley, but there is not much more, and
+yet the most interesting part is to come.
+
+"We now devoted ourselves to the practical carrying out of the scheme,
+just we four women; our maids, both clever dressmakers, were of
+immense help. It was soon done. You can buy anything in Geneva. There
+are plenty of good shops and skilful workers, and we soon provided
+ourselves with the clothes, all the disguises really that we
+required--the long gray dust cloaks and soft hats and all the rest, so
+much alike that we might have been soldiers in the same regiment.
+Philpotts and Victorine, my sister's maid, were also made up on a
+similar pattern, and a second baby was built up as a dummy that would
+have deceived any one.
+
+"Everything was completed by this morning, and I had settled that my
+sister, with her dear little Ralph, should get away, but by quite a
+new route, while I held my ground against the detectives. I felt sure
+they would soon hear of me and run me down. I hoped they would attach
+themselves to me, and meant to lead them a fine dance as a blind for
+Henriette, who, meanwhile, would have crossed to Lyons and gone south
+to Marseilles. The Riviera is a longer and more roundabout road to
+Turin, but it was open, and I hoped unimpeded. What do you think of my
+diplomacy?"
+
+"Admirable!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "Your cleverness, Lady Claire,
+is colossal. Go on, I beg of you. Surely you have succeeded?"
+
+"Alas! no. Everything was cut and dried and this evening we scored the
+first point in the game. Henriette went on this evening to Amberieu,
+the junction for Lyons. She went straight from her hotel, alone, for
+of course I was obliged to keep close, or the trick would have been
+discovered, and it was in part.
+
+"For I must tell you that to-day one of the detectives appeared in
+Geneva, not the first man, but a second, who attached himself to me at
+Basle. I met him plump on the Mont Blanc Bridge and turned tail, but
+he came after me. I jumped into a passing tram, so did he, and to
+throw him off his guard I talked to him, and made friends with him,
+and advised him to come and stay at this hotel. Then I got out and
+left him, making my way to the Pierre Fatio Hôtel by a circuitous
+route, dodging in and out among the narrow streets till I nearly lost
+myself.
+
+"I thought I had eluded him, and he certainly was nowhere near when I
+went into the hotel. But I suppose he followed me, he must have, and
+found out something, for I know now that he went to Amberieu after
+Henriette--"
+
+"You are perfectly sure?"
+
+"She has telegraphed to me from Amberieu; I got it not an hour ago.
+The man accosted her, taking her for me. He would have it she was Mrs.
+Blair, and told her to her face that he did not mean to lose sight of
+her again. So you see--"
+
+"If she goes round by Lyons to Marseilles, then, he would be at her
+heels, and the scheme breaks down in that respect?"
+
+"Not only that, I don't see that he could interfere with her, or do
+her much harm, and at Marseilles she might change her plans entirely.
+There are ever so many ways of escape from a seaport. She might take
+ship and embark on board the first steamer bound to the East, for
+India or Ceylon, the Antipodes or far Cathay."
+
+"Well, why not?"
+
+"Henriette, my sister, has given way. Her courage has failed her at
+this, the most critical moment, when she is within a hair's breadth of
+success. She is afraid to go on alone with little Ralph, and is
+running back to me by the first train to-morrow morning, at five or
+six o'clock."
+
+"Coming here? Into the very mouths of all the others!"
+
+"Just so, and all my great scheme will be ruined. They cannot but find
+out, and there is no knowing what they may do. Lord Blackadder, I
+know, is capable of anything. I assure you, Colonel Annesley, I am in
+despair. What _can_ I do?"
+
+She looked at me in piteous appeal, the tears brimming over, her hands
+stretched towards me with a gesture at once pathetic and enchanting.
+
+"Say, rather, what can _we_ do, Lady Claire," I corrected her. "This
+is my business, too, if you will allow me to say so, and I offer you
+my advice for what it is worth."
+
+"Yes, I will take it thankfully, I promise you."
+
+"The only safe course now is the boldest. You must make another
+exchange with your sister, Lady Blackadder--"
+
+"Call her Lady Henriette Standish. She has dropped the other
+entirely."
+
+"By all means. Lady Henriette then has determined to take the first
+train from Amberieu at--Have you a Bradshaw? Thank you--at 5.52
+A.M., which will get her to Culoz at 6.48. You must, if
+possible, exchange babies, and at the same time exchange _rôles_. I
+feel sure that you, at any rate, are not afraid of going to Marseilles
+with the real baby."
+
+"Hardly!" she laughed scornfully. "But Henriette--what is to become of
+her?"
+
+"That shall be my affair. It is secondary, really. The first and
+all-important is for you to secure the little Ralph and escape with
+him. It will have to be done under the very eyes of the enemy, for
+there is every reason to fear they will be going on, too. The other
+detective, this Tiler--I have heard them call him by that name--will
+have told them of her ladyship's movements, and will have summoned
+them, Falfani at least, to his side."
+
+"If I go on by that early train they will, no doubt, do the same. I
+must not be seen by them. They would fathom the trick of the two
+parties and the exchange."
+
+"Yet you must go on by that train. It's the only way."
+
+"Of course I might change my appearance a little, but not enough to
+deceive them. Cannot I go across to the station before them and hide
+in some compartment specially reserved for us?"
+
+"It might be managed. We might secure the whole of the seats."
+
+"Money is no object."
+
+"It will do most things, especially in Switzerland. Leave it to me,
+Lady Claire. All you have to do is to be ready to-morrow morning, very
+early, remember. Before 5 A.M."
+
+"If necessary I'll sit up all night."
+
+"Well, then, that's settled. I'll knock at your door and see you get
+some coffee."
+
+"Philpotts shall make it; no one in the hotel must know. There will be
+the bill."
+
+"I will see to that. I'll come back after you're ensconced, with the
+blinds drawn. Sick lady on the way, via Culoz to Aix-les-Bains, must
+not be disturbed. It won't matter my being seen on the road, all the
+better really if my lord is there, for I have a little plan of my own,
+Lady Claire--no, please don't ask me yet--but it will help matters, I
+think."
+
+"You are, indeed, my true and faithful friend," she said, as she put
+out her hand and wished me good night. She left it in mine for just a
+second, and I flattered myself that its warm pressure was meant to
+assure me that I had established a substantial claim to her regard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+On leaving Salon No. 17 I descended to the ground floor, seeking the
+smoking-room and a little stimulant to assist me in deciding the best
+course of action for the following day.
+
+As I passed along the corridor I caught sight of l'Echelle, whom I
+considered my man, in close confabulation with Falfani in a quiet
+corner. They could hardly have seen me, at least l'Echelle made no
+reference to the fact when he came to me presently and asked if I had
+any orders for the morning. I answered him sternly:
+
+"What was Falfani saying to you just now? The truth, please, or you
+get nothing more from me."
+
+"He is a _vaurien_ and _fainéant_, and thinks others as bad as
+himself; said my lord would give me five hundred francs to know what
+you were doing, and find out whether the lady who travelled with us to
+Basle last Sunday is here in this house."
+
+"I've no objection to your taking his money if you will tell me
+something. How long does my lord mean to stay here? Have you any
+idea?"
+
+"They all go on by the early train to Culoz or farther. A pressing
+telegram has come from their man at Amberieu."
+
+"Ah! Indeed. Then you may say that I am also going by that early
+train. They're not going to shake me off very easily. Tell them that,
+and that if they want the lady they'd better look for her. She isn't
+here."
+
+I lied in a good cause, for a lady, as a gentleman is bound to do. I
+shall be forgiven, I think, under the circumstances.
+
+The free use of coin had the desired effect at the railway station.
+Soon after 5 A.M. I was met at a private door and escorted,
+with my precious party, by a circuitous route to where the 5.48 was
+shunted, waiting the moment to run back to the departure platform.
+There was a coupé ready for Lady Claire, and she took her place
+quietly, observed by no one but the obsequious official who had
+managed it all.
+
+As for me, I walked boldly to the hotel and hung about the hall till
+the Blackadder party appeared and had left for the station. Then I
+asked the hotel clerk for Lady Claire's bill, paid it, with my own,
+and went over to the train, selecting a compartment close to the
+coupé. As I passed it I knocked lightly on the window pane, giving a
+signal previously arranged between us.
+
+I do not think that Lord Blackadder saw me then, at the start. But at
+Bellegarde, the Swiss frontier, where there was a wait of half an hour
+for the Customs examination, an irritating performance always, but
+carried out here with the most maddening and overbearing
+particularity, everyone was obliged to alight from the train, and for
+the moment I trembled for Lady Claire. But the appeal addressed to the
+French brigadier, "_un galant homme_," of an invalid lady, too ill to
+be disturbed, was effectual, especially when backed by two five-franc
+pieces.
+
+Lord Blackadder was on the platform with the rest, and directly he saw
+me he came up with the same arrogant air, curiously blended with
+aggrieved helplessness.
+
+"This will end badly, Colonel Annesley. I give you fair warning. I
+shall appeal to the authorities. We shall be on French soil directly,
+and I know something of French law. It affords protection to all who
+claim it against such people as you."
+
+"If you talk like that I'll give you some reason to seek the
+protection of the gendarmes or police," I cried, but checked myself at
+once.
+
+I had made up my mind how to deal with him, but the time was not yet.
+
+"Your insolence, sir, outsteps all bounds, and you shall answer for
+it, I tell you."
+
+But now the cry was raised "_En voiture! en voiture!_" and we were
+peremptorily hustled back to our seats. Lord Blackadder hurried to his
+compartment at the end of the train some way from mine and the coupé.
+As I passed the latter, seeing the road clear, I gave the signal, and,
+taking out my railway carriage key, quickly slipped in.
+
+She received me with her rare sweet smile, that was the richest
+payment a man could ask.
+
+"The critical moment is at hand, Lady Claire," I said, speaking
+mysteriously. "It is essential that we should have a few last words
+together. Naturally we must now be guided very much by the way things
+happen, but so far as possible we must prepare for them. We have
+managed capitally so far. I don't believe Lord Blackadder has any idea
+you are in the train, and I much doubt that he expects to find Lady
+Henriette at Culoz. You think she will really be there?"
+
+"I feel sure of it. It is just what she would do."
+
+"Then everything will depend on you. You must be alert and prompt, on
+the _qui vive_ to seize your opportunity. It will be your business to
+make your way to her with the dummy the instant the train stops."
+
+"I shall have to find her."
+
+"That is the first and chief thing on your part. You _must_ find her
+at once. There are very few minutes for the whole job. Find her,
+exchange burthens, send her to the train for Aix-les-Bains. It will be
+waiting there. You hurry back to this coupé, lie low, and, if all goes
+well, you will be travelling on toward Amberieu before the enemy has
+the least notion what has occurred."
+
+"But one word, please. What will the enemy have been doing at Culoz?
+Say they catch sight of Henriette as soon as we do?"
+
+"I hope and trust they may. I count upon that as part of my
+programme."
+
+"But they will catch her, stop her, deprive her of our dear little
+Ralph."
+
+"Wait, wait. You will see. It will be settled in a moment now. But
+before it is too late let us arrange how you may communicate with me.
+We shall both be moving about, and the best address I can give will be
+in London. Telegraph to me there to my club, the Mars and Neptune,
+Piccadilly. I will send instructions there to have all telegrams
+opened and retelegraphed to me at once. They shall be kept informed of
+my whereabouts daily. But now, here we are, close to Culoz and already
+slowing down. Look out, please."
+
+It could not have suited me better. There, standing under the shadow
+of the dwarf plane-trees, but with not the slightest suggestion of
+concealment, was the exact counterpart of Lady Claire, her twin
+sister, Lady Henriette Standish, till lately Lady Blackadder. She was
+staring intently at our train as it ran in, deeply anxious, no doubt,
+to note the arrival of her sister.
+
+"Give me a short start," I said to Lady Claire as I jumped out of the
+coupé. "You will see why."
+
+Even as I spoke I was satisfied that the pursuing party had recognized
+the object of their journey. They had all alighted and were coming up
+the platform in great haste to where she stood. Had any doubt
+remained, it would have been removed by the appearance of a man who
+ran out from some back part of the station and waved them forward with
+much gesticulation.
+
+Here I interposed, and, rushing forward with all the ardour of a
+football player entering a scrimmage, I took Lord Blackadder by the
+throat and shook him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+[_Falfani again._]
+
+
+When that audacious and intemperate English Colonel so far forgot
+himself as to assault my lord the Right Honourable the Earl of
+Blackadder at Culoz Station in the open light of day before us all, I
+greatly rejoiced; for, although horror-stricken at his ruffianly
+conduct, I knew that he would get his deserts at last. The French
+authorities would certainly not tolerate brawling in the precincts of
+the railway station, and justice must promptly overtake the sole
+offender. The blackguard Colonel, the cause and origin of the
+disturbance, would, of course, be at once arrested and removed.
+
+The fracas had naturally attracted general attention. One or two
+porters ran up and endeavoured, with Tiler and myself, to rescue my
+lord from his cowardly assailant. A crowd quickly gathered around us,
+many passengers and a number of idlers, who drop from nowhere, as it
+might be, all drawn to the spot by overmastering curiosity. Everybody
+talked at the same time, asking questions, volunteering answers, some
+laughing shamelessly at my lord's discomfiture, a few expressing
+indignation, and declaring that such a scandal should not be
+permitted, and the guilty parties held strictly to account.
+
+The gendarmes on duty--a couple of them are always at hand in a French
+railway station--soon appeared, and, taking in the situation at the
+first glance, imposed silence peremptorily.
+
+"Let some one, one person only, speak and explain." The brigadier, or
+sergeant, addressed himself to me, no doubt seeing that I had assumed
+a prominent place in the forefront, and seemed a person of importance.
+
+"Monsieur here," I said, pointing to the Colonel, who, in spite of all
+we could do, still held my lord tight, "was the aggressor, as you can
+see for yourselves. Oblige him, I pray you, to desist. He will do my
+lord some serious injury."
+
+"Is one an English milord, _hein_? Who, then, is the other?"
+
+"An abominable _vaurien_," I answered with great heat. "A rank
+villain; one who outrages all decency, breaks every law, respects no
+rank--"
+
+"_Bus, bus_," cried the Colonel, in some language of his own, as he
+put me aside so roughly that I still feel the pain in my shoulder.
+"That'll do, my fine fellow. Let me speak for myself, if you please.
+Pardon, M. le brigadier," he went on, saluting him politely. "Here is
+my card. I am, as you will perceive, an officer of the English army,
+and I appeal to you as a comrade, for I see by your decorations, no
+doubt richly deserved, that you are an _ancien militaire_. I appeal to
+you for justice and protection."
+
+"Protection, forsooth!" I broke in, contemptuously. "Such as the wolf
+and the tiger and the snake expect from their victim."
+
+It made me sick to hear him currying favour with the gendarme, and
+still worse that it was affecting the old trooper, who looked on all
+as _pekins_, mere civilians, far inferior to military men.
+
+"Protection you shall have, _mon Colonel_, if you have a right to it,
+_bien entendu_," said the sergeant, civilly but cautiously.
+
+"I ask it because these people have made a dead set at me. They have
+tried to hustle me and, I fear, to rob me, and I have been obliged to
+act in my own defence."
+
+Before I could protest against this shameless misrepresentation of the
+fact, my lord interposed. He was now free, and, gradually recovering,
+was burning to avenge the insults put upon him.
+
+"It is not true," he shouted. "It is an absolute lie. He knows it is
+not true; he is perfectly well aware who I am, Lord Blackadder; and
+that he has no sort of grievance against me nor any of my people. His
+attack upon me was altogether unprovoked and unjustifiable."
+
+"Let the authorities judge between us," calmly said the Colonel. "Take
+us before the station-master, or send for the Commissary from the
+town. I haven't the slightest objection."
+
+"Yes, yes, the _Commissaire de police_, the judge, the peace officer.
+Let us go before the highest authorities; nothing less than arrest,
+imprisonment, the heaviest penalties, will satisfy me," went on my
+lord.
+
+"With all my heart," cried the Colonel. "We'll refer it to any one you
+please. Lead on, _mon brave_, only you must take all or none. I
+insist upon that. It is my right; let us all go before the
+Commissary."
+
+"There is no Commissary here in Culoz. You must travel to
+Aix-les-Bains to find him. Fifteen miles from here."
+
+"Well, why not? I'm quite ready," assented the Colonel, with an
+alacrity I did not understand. I began to think he had some game of
+his own.
+
+"So am I ready," cried his lordship. "I desire most strongly to haul
+this hectoring bully before the law, and let his flagrant misconduct
+be dealt with in a most exemplary fashion."
+
+I caught a curious shadow flitting across my comrade Tiler's face at
+this speech. He evidently did not approve of my lord's attitude. Why?
+
+I met his eye as soon as I could, and, in answer to my inquiring
+glance, he came over to me and whispered:
+
+"Don't you see? He," jerking his finger toward the Colonel, "wants us
+to waste as much time as possible, while my lady slips through our
+fingers and gets farther and farther on her road."
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Ah, where? No longer here, anyway."
+
+The train by which we had come from Geneva was not now in the station.
+It had gone on, quite unobserved by any of us during the fracas, and
+it flashed upon me at once that the incident had been planned for this
+very purpose of occupying our attention while she stole off.
+
+"But, one moment, Ludovic, that train was going to Maçon and Paris. My
+lady was travelling the other way--this way. You came with her
+yourself. Why should she run back again?"
+
+"Ah! Why does a woman do anything, and particularly this one? Still
+there was a reason, a good one. She must have caught sight of my lord,
+and knew that she was caught."
+
+"That's plausible enough, but I don't understand it. She started for
+Italy; what turned her back when you followed her, and why did she
+come this way again?"
+
+"She only came because I'd tracked her to Amberieu, and thought to
+give me the slip," said Tiler.
+
+"May be. But it don't seem to fit. Anyway, we've got to find her once
+more. It ought not to be difficult. She's not the sort to hide
+herself easily, with all her belongings, the nurse and the baby and
+all the rest. But hold on, my lord is speaking."
+
+"Find out, one of you," he said briefly, "when the next train goes to
+Aix. I mean to push this through to the bitter end. You will be
+careful, sergeant, to bring your prisoner along with you."
+
+"_Merci bien!_ I do not want you or any one else to teach me my duty,"
+replied the gendarme, very stiffly. It was clear that his sympathies
+were all with the other side.
+
+"A prisoner, am I?" cried the Colonel, gaily. "Not much. But I shall
+make no difficulties. I am willing enough to go with you. When is it
+to be?"
+
+"Nine fifty-one; due at Aix at 10.22," Tiler reported, and we
+proceeded to pass the time, some twenty minutes, each in his own way.
+Lord Blackadder paced the platform with feverish footsteps, his rage
+and disappointment still burning fiercely within him. The Colonel
+invited the two gendarmes to the _buvette_, and l'Echelle followed
+him. I was a little doubtful of that slippery gentleman; although I
+had bought him, as I thought, the night before, I never felt sure of
+him. He had joined our party, had travelled with us, and seemed on our
+side in the recent scuffle, here he was putting himself at the beck
+and call of his own employer. My lord had paid him five hundred
+francs. Was the money thrown away, and his intention now to go back on
+his bargain?
+
+Meanwhile Tiler and I thought it our pressing duty to utilize these
+few moments in seeking news of our lady and her party. Had she been
+seen? Oh, yes, many people, officials, and hangers-on about the
+station had seen her. Too much seen indeed, for the stories told were
+confusing and conflicting. One _facteur_ assured us he had helped her
+into the train going Amberieu way, but I thought his description very
+vague, although Tiler swallowed the statement quite greedily. Another
+man told me quite a different story; he had seen her, and had not the
+slightest doubt of it, in the down train, that for Aix-les-Bains, the
+express via Chambery, Modane, and the Mont Cenis tunnel for Italy.
+This was the true version, I felt sure. Italy had been her original
+destination, and naturally she would continue her journey that way.
+
+Why, then, Tiler asked, had she gone to Amberieu, running back as she
+had done with him at her heels? To deceive him, of course, I retorted.
+Was it not clear that her real point was Italy? Why else had she
+returned to Culoz by the early train directly she thought she had
+eluded Tiler? The reasoning was correct, but Ludovic was always a
+desperately obstinate creature, jealous and conceited, tenacious of
+his opinions, and holding them far superior to those who were cleverer
+and more intelligent than himself.
+
+Then we heard the whistle of the approaching train, and we all
+collected on the platform. L'Echelle, as he came from the direction of
+the _buvette_, was a little in the rear of the Colonel and the
+gendarmes. I caught a look on his face not easy to interpret. He was
+grinning all over it and pointing toward the Colonel with his finger,
+derisively. I was not inclined to trust him very greatly, but he
+evidently wished us to believe that he thought very little of the
+Colonel, and that we might count upon his support against him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+There were seven of us passengers, more than enough to fill one
+compartment, so we did not travel together. My lord very liberally
+provided first-class tickets for the whole of the party, but the
+Colonel took his own and paid for the gendarmes. He refused to travel
+in the same carriage with the noble Earl, saying openly and impudently
+that he preferred the society of honest old soldiers to such a crew as
+ours. L'Echelle, still sitting on the hedge, as I fancied, got in with
+the Colonel and his escort.
+
+On reaching Aix-les-Bains, we found the omnibus that did the _service
+de la ville_, but the Colonel refused to enter it, and declared he
+would walk; he cared nothing for the degradation of appearing in the
+public streets as a prisoner marching between a couple of gendarmes.
+He gloried in it, he said; his desire was clearly to turn the whole
+thing into ridicule, and the passers-by laughed aloud at this
+well-dressed gentleman, as he strutted along with his hat cocked, one
+hand on his hip, the other placed familiarly on the sergeant's arm.
+
+He met some friends, too,--one was a person rather like himself, with
+the same swaggering high-handed air, who accosted him as we were
+passing the corner of the square just by the Hôtel d'Aix.
+
+"What ho! Basil my boy!" cried the stranger. "In chokey? Took up by
+the police? What've you done? Robbed a church?"
+
+"Come on with us and you'll soon know. No, really, come along, I may
+want you. I'm going before the beak and may want a witness as to
+character."
+
+"Right oh! There are some more of us here from the old shop--Jack
+Tyrrell, Bobus Smith--all Mars and Neptune men. They'll speak for a
+pal at a pinch. Where shall we come?"
+
+"To the town hall, the _mairie_," replied the Colonel, after a brief
+reference to his escort. "I've got a particular appointment there with
+Monsieur le Commissaire, and the Right Honourable the Earl of
+Blackadder."
+
+"Oh! that noble sportsman? What's wrong with him? What's he been
+doing to you or you to him?"
+
+"I punched his head, that's all."
+
+"No doubt he deserved it; anyhow, Charlie Forrester will be pleased.
+By-by, you'll see me again, and all the chaps I can pick up at the
+Cercle and the hotels near."
+
+Then our procession passed on, the Colonel and gendarmes leading,
+Tiler and I with l'Echelle close behind.
+
+We found my lord awaiting us. He had driven on ahead in a _fiacre_ and
+was standing alone at the entrance to the police office, which is
+situated on the ground floor of the Hôtel de Ville, a pretty
+old-fashioned building of gray stone just facing the Etablissement
+Thermale, the home of the far-famed baths from which _Aix-les-Bains_
+takes its name.
+
+"In here?" asked my lord; and with a brief wave of his hand he would
+have passed in first, but the officers of the law put him rather
+rudely aside and claimed precedence for their prisoner.
+
+But when M. le Commissaire, who was there, seated at a table opposite
+his _greffier_, rose and bowed stiffly, inquiring our business, my
+lord pushed forward into the front and began very warmly, in passable
+French:
+
+"I am an aggrieved person seeking justice on a wrong-doer. I--demand
+justice of you--"
+
+"_Pardon, monsieur, je vous prie._ We must proceed in order, and first
+allow me to assure you that justice is always done in France. No one
+need claim it in the tone you have assumed."
+
+The Commissary was a solemn person, full of the stiff formality
+exhibited by members of the French magistracy, the juniors especially.
+He was dressed in discreet black, his clean-shaven, imperturbable face
+showed over a stiff collar, and he wore the conventional white tie of
+the French official.
+
+"Allow me to ask--" he went on coldly.
+
+"I will explain in a few words," began my lord, replying hurriedly.
+
+"Stay, monsieur, it is not from you that I seek explanation. It is the
+duty of the officers of the law now present, and prepared, I presume,
+to make their report. Proceed, sergeant."
+
+"But you must hear me, M. le Commissary; I call upon and require you
+to do so. I have been shamefully ill-used by that man there." He
+shook his finger at the Colonel. "He has violently assaulted me. I am
+Lord Blackadder, an English peer. I am entitled to your best
+consideration."
+
+"Every individual, the poorest, meanest, is entitled to that in
+republican France. You shall have it, sir, but only as I see fit to
+accord it. I must first hear the story from my own people. Go on,
+sergeant."
+
+"I protest," persisted my lord. "You must attend to me--you shall
+listen to me. I shall complain to your superiors--I shall bring the
+matter before the British ambassador. Do you realize who and what I
+am?"
+
+"You appear to be a gentleman with an uncontrollable temper, whose
+conduct is most improper. I must ask you to behave yourself, to
+respect the _convenances_, or I shall be compelled to show you the
+door."
+
+"I will not be put down in this way, I will speak; I--I--"
+
+"Silence, monsieur. I call upon you, explicitly, to moderate your tone
+and pay proper deference to my authority." With this the commissary
+pulled out a drawer, extracted a tricolour sash and slowly buckled it
+round his waist, then once more turned interrogatively to the
+sergeant:
+
+"It is nothing very serious, M. le Commissaire," said the treacherous
+gendarme. "A simple brawl--a blow struck, possibly returned--a mere
+_rixe_."
+
+"Between gentlemen? _Fi donc!_ Why the commonest _voyous_, the
+_rôdeurs_ of the _barrière_, could not do worse. It is not our French
+way. Men of honour settle their disputes differently; they do not come
+to the _police correctionnelle_."
+
+"Pray do not think it is my desire," broke in the Colonel, with his
+customary fierceness. "I have offered Lord Blackadder satisfaction as
+a gentleman, and am ready to meet him when and how he pleases."
+
+"I cannot listen to you, sir. Duels are in contravention of the Code.
+But I recommend you to take your quarrels elsewhere, and not to waste
+my time."
+
+"This is quite unheard of," cried my lord, now thoroughly aroused.
+"You are shamefully neglecting your duty, M. le Commissaire, and it
+cannot be tolerated."
+
+"I am not responsible to you, sir, and will account for my action _à
+qui de droit_, to those who have the right to question me. The case
+is dismissed. Gendarmes, release your prisoner, and let everyone
+withdraw."
+
+We all trooped out into the square, where a number of persons had
+assembled, evidently the Colonel's friends, for they greeted him
+uproariously.
+
+"The prisoner has left the court without a stain upon his character,"
+the Colonel shouted in answer to their noisy inquiries.
+
+"But what was it? Why did they run you in?" they still asked.
+
+"I refer you to this gentleman, Lord Blackadder. Perhaps some of you
+know him. At any rate you've heard of him. We had a difference of
+opinion, and I was compelled to administer chastisement." A lot of
+impudent chaff followed.
+
+"Oh! really, pray introduce me to his lordship," said one. "Does your
+lordship propose to make a long stay in Aix? Can we be of any use to
+you?" "You mustn't mind Basil Annesley; he's always full of his
+games." "Hope he didn't hurt you. He didn't mean it really;" and I
+could see that the Earl could hardly contain himself in his rage.
+
+Then, suddenly muttering something about "bounders" and "cads," he
+forced his way through and hurried off, shouting his parting
+instructions to us to join him as soon as possible at the Hôtel
+Hautecombe on the hill.
+
+We followed quickly, and were ushered at once into his private
+apartment. It was essential to confer and decide upon some plan of
+action; but when I asked him what he proposed to do next, he received
+my harmless request with a storm of invective and reproach.
+
+"You miserable and incompetent fools! Don't expect me to tell you your
+business. Why do I pay you? Why indeed? Nothing you have done has been
+of the very slightest use; on the contrary, through your beastly
+mismanagement I have been dragged into this degrading position, held
+up to ridicule and contempt before all the world. And with it all, the
+whole thing has failed. I sent you out to recover my child, and what
+have you done? What has become of that abominable woman who stole it
+from under your very noses? Blackguards! Bunglers! Idiots! Fat-headed
+asses!"
+
+"Nay, my lord," pleaded Tiler humbly, for I confess I was so much
+annoyed by this undeserved reprimand I could not bring myself to
+speak civilly. "I think I can assure your lordship that matters will
+soon mend. The situation is not hopeless, believe me. You may rely on
+us to regain touch with the fugitives without delay. I have a clue,
+and with your lordship's permission will follow it at once."
+
+I saw clearly that he was set upon the absurd notion he had conceived
+that the lady had gone westward, and I felt it my duty to warn the
+Earl not to be misled by Tiler.
+
+"There is nothing in his clue, my lord. It is pure assumption, without
+any good evidence to support it."
+
+"Let me hear this precious clue," said his lordship. "I will decide
+what it is worth."
+
+Then Tiler propounded his theory.
+
+"It might be good enough," I interjected, "if I did not know the exact
+contrary. The lady with her party was seen going in exactly the
+opposite direction. I know it for a fact."
+
+"And I am equally positive of what I saw," said Tiler.
+
+His lordship looked from one to the other, plainly perplexed and with
+increasing anger.
+
+"By the Lord Harry, it's pleasant to be served by a couple of such
+useless creatures who differ so entirely in their views that they
+cannot agree upon a common plan of action. How can I decide as to the
+best course if you give me no help?"
+
+"Perhaps your lordship will allow me to make a suggestion?" I said
+gravely, and I flatter myself with some dignity, for I wished to show
+I was not pleased with the way he treated us.
+
+"Whether the lady has gone north or south, east or west, may be
+uncertain; and although I am satisfied in my own mind as to the
+direction she took, I am willing to await further developments before
+embarking on any further chase. To my mind the best clue, the real,
+the only clue, lies here, in our very hands. If we have only a little
+patience, this Colonel Annesley will act as a sign-post."
+
+"You think that some communication will reach him from the fugitives?"
+
+"Most decidedly I do. I firmly believe that the lady relies upon him
+greatly, and will in all probability call him to her, or if not that
+she will wish to let him know how she has got on."
+
+For the first time in this unpleasant interview his lordship looked
+at me approvingly. He quite changed his tone and dropped his
+aggressive manner.
+
+"I believe you are entirely right, Falfani, and cordially agree with
+your suggestion," he said with great heartiness. "Let it be adopted at
+once. Take immediate steps, if you please, to set a close watch on
+this pestilent villain Annesley; keep him continually under your eye."
+
+"We've got to find him first," objected Tiler gruffly and
+despondently.
+
+"It ought not to be difficult, seeing that he was here half an hour
+ago, and we can hunt up l'Echelle, who will surely know, and who I
+have reason to hope is on our side."
+
+"Do it one way or another. I look to you for that, and let me know the
+result without loss of time. Then we will confer again and arrange
+further. Leave me now."
+
+I accepted my dismissal and moved towards the door, but Tiler hung
+behind, and I heard him say timidly:
+
+"May I crave your lordship's pardon--and I trust you rely on my entire
+devotion to your lordship's service--but there is one thing I most
+earnestly desire to do."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"And that is to follow my own clue, at least for a time. It is the
+right one I firmly believe, and I am satisfied it would be wrong,
+criminal even to neglect it. Will you allow me to absent myself if
+only for a few days? That should suffice to settle the point. If I
+fail I will return with all speed. If, as I hope and believe, I strike
+the scent, assuredly you will not regret it."
+
+"There's something in what you say. At any rate that line ought to be
+looked up," said his lordship. "I am willing to wait a day or two
+until you return or report, or unless something more definite turns up
+in the other direction. I suppose he can be spared, Falfani?"
+
+"He will be no manner of use here, it will be better to let him go;
+let him run after his red herring, he'll precious soon find out his
+mistake."
+
+"We shall see," said Tiler, elated and cocksure, and I freely confess
+we did see that he was not quite the fool I thought him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+On leaving his lordship I descended to the grand entrance to the hotel
+with the intention of beating up the Colonel's quarters in Aix.
+Although the hotels were certain to be crowded at this, the height of
+the season, the town is not really large, the visitors' lists are well
+posted with new arrivals, and there are one or two public places where
+people always turn up at some time or other in the day. The _cercle_
+or _casino_ and its _succursale_ the Villa des Fleurs, with their many
+spacious rooms, reading-room, concert-room, baccarat-room, their
+restaurants, their beautiful gardens, are thronged at all hours of the
+day with the smart folk of all nationalities.
+
+I stood on the top of the steps waiting for the private omnibus that
+plies between the hotel and the town below, when I heard my name
+called from behind, and turning, was confronted by Jules l'Echelle.
+
+"Hullo!" I cried, eying him suspiciously. "What brings you up here?"
+
+"The Colonel, my master--for I have taken service with him, you must
+know--sent me here to inquire whether we could have rooms."
+
+"Why does he choose this hotel of all others?" I asked in a
+dissatisfied tone, although in my secret heart I was overjoyed.
+
+"It's the best, isn't it? Haven't you come here?"
+
+"My Lord Blackadder has, but that's another pair of shoes. There's
+some difference between him and a beggarly half-pay Colonel who will
+very likely have to black the boots to work out his bill. They know
+how to charge here."
+
+"The Colonel, I take it, can pay his way as well as most people.
+Anyhow, he's coming to stop here."
+
+"For any time?"
+
+"Likely enough. He said something about going through the course,
+taking the baths, and among the rest asked me to find out the best
+doctor."
+
+"That'll mean a lengthened stay; three weeks at least."
+
+"Well, why shouldn't he? He's his own master."
+
+"Then he's finished with that foolish business about the lady; had
+enough of it, I suppose; burnt his fingers and done no earthly good."
+
+"How do I know? It's not my business; but I fancy I have fallen into a
+snug berth, a soft job, better than making beds in a sleeping-car and
+being shaken to death in express trains."
+
+"Good wages, if it's a fair question?"
+
+"Fifty francs a week, _pour tout potage_."
+
+I looked at him hard, revolving in my mind how best to approach him.
+L'Echelle was a Swiss, and with most of his sort it is only a question
+of price. How much would it take to buy him?
+
+"Well, how have you fared? Have you succeeded in getting your rooms?
+Will your Colonel move up?"
+
+"What would his lordship say? Wouldn't like it much, I expect. Shall I
+prevent it? It will be easy to say there are no rooms. I'll do just as
+you please."
+
+"You're very obliging."
+
+"I'm willing enough to oblige, as I've always told you--at a price."
+
+"Put a name to it; but don't forget you've had something on account.
+Last night I gave you five hundred francs."
+
+"Bah! I want a lot more than that, a thousand francs down and fifty
+francs a day so long as I serve you. Do you agree to my terms?"
+
+"My lord won't. He looks both sides of his money, and pays no fancy
+prices for a pig in a poke."
+
+"Then I'll take my pigs to another market. Suppose I let the Colonel
+know what you've been at, trying to tamper with me. This hotel
+wouldn't be big enough to hold him and your patron together."
+
+"Well,"--I hesitated, not willing to appear too anxious,--"let's say,
+just for argument's sake, that you got what you ask, or something near
+it. I'm not in a position to promise it, no, not the half of it. But
+we'll agree what you'd do for us in return?"
+
+"Anything you chose to ask."
+
+"Would you come over to us, belong to us body and soul? Think first of
+my lord, put his interests before the Colonel's; tell us what the
+Colonel's doing, his game from day to day, read his letters, and tell
+us their contents; spy on his actions, watch him at every turn, his
+comings and his goings; the houses he calls at, the people he meets,
+every move he makes or has in view?"
+
+"If I promise to do all that will you promise not to give me away?
+You'll keep your own counsel and protect me from the Colonel? If he
+got a whisper I was selling him I'd lose my place and he'd half kill
+me into the bargain."
+
+"Not a soul shall know but my lord and myself. I must consult him, or
+you won't get the money."
+
+"But there is that other chap, the one who joined us at Culoz, and who
+was with you at the Commissariat, a new face to me. One of your own
+party, wasn't he?"
+
+"To be sure, Tiler; he's on the job, too, came out when I did from
+London. But he's gone, left us half an hour ago."
+
+"For good and all? Sacked, dropped out, or what?"
+
+"Gone to follow up a game of his own. He thinks he knows better than
+any one else; believes the lady has harked back, and is following her
+to Amberieu, Maçon, Paris, England perhaps. God knows where. It's a
+wild goose chase, of course; but my lord leans to it, and so it is to
+be tried."
+
+"You don't agree?"
+
+"How can I when I'm satisfied he's wrong? She was seen in the express
+for Modane, making for the Mont Cenis tunnel. Of course that's the
+true direction. She was aiming for Italy from the first; the other
+sister, the divorced lady, is there; we've always known that. Go back
+to England! Bah! absolute rot. I'd stick to my opinion against fifty
+fools like Tiler."
+
+"It's a bargain, then; I can count upon the cash? How soon shall you
+know? I'd like to begin at once; there's something I would tell you
+here, and now, that would interest you very much. But money down is my
+rule."
+
+"Let me run up and ask his lordship. I won't keep you five minutes."
+
+My lord gave his consent a little grudgingly, but was presently
+persuaded that it was to his own advantage to have a spy in the heart
+of the enemy's camp. That was soon seen when l'Echelle had pocketed
+his notes and gave us the news in exchange.
+
+"Now that I'm my lord's man I don't mind telling you that the Colonel
+does not mean to stay long in Aix, not one minute longer than till the
+call comes."
+
+"He expects a call?"
+
+"Assuredly. He wants you to think he's a fixture here, but he means to
+cut and run after my lady whenever she sends to him. He'll be off then
+faster than that," he snapped his fingers, "and you won't find it easy
+to catch him."
+
+"That's good. You'll be well worth your money, I can see. Only be
+diligent, watch closely, and keep us fully informed. We shall trust
+very greatly to you."
+
+"Your trust shall not be misplaced. When I take an employer's pay I
+serve him faithfully and to the best of my power," he said with an
+engaging frankness that won me completely.
+
+Lord! Lord! what liars men are and what fools! I might have guessed
+how much reliance was to be placed upon a man who, to my certain
+knowledge, was serving two masters.
+
+Why should he be more faithful to my lord than to the Colonel?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+The rest of the first day at Aix passed without any important
+incident. I was a trifle surprised that the Colonel did not put in an
+appearance; but it was explained by l'Echelle, whom I met by
+appointment later in the day. I understood from him that the Colonel
+had decided to remain down in the town, where he had many friends, and
+where he was more in the thick of the fun. For Aix-les-Bains, as every
+one knows, is a lively little place in the season, and the heart and
+centre of it all is the Casino. The Colonel had established himself in
+a hotel almost next door, and ran up against me continually that
+afternoon and evening, as I wandered about now under the trees
+listening to the band, now at the baccarat table, where I occasionally
+staked a few _jetons_ of the smaller values.
+
+He never failed to meet my eye when it rested on him; he seemed to
+know intuitively when I watched him, and he always looked back and
+laughed. If any one was with him, as was generally the case--smart
+ladies and men of his own stamp, with all of whom he seemed on very
+familiar terms--he invariably drew their attention to me, and they,
+too, laughed aloud after a prolonged stare. It was a little
+embarrassing; he had so evidently disclosed my business, in scornful
+terms no doubt, and held me up to ridicule, describing in his own way
+and much to my discredit all that had happened between us. Once he had
+the effrontery to accost me as I stood facing the green board on which
+the telegrams are exposed.
+
+"Where have we met?" he began, with a mocking laugh. "I seem to know
+your face. Ah, of course, my old friend Falfani, the private detective
+who appeared in the Blackadder case. And I think I have come across
+you more recently."
+
+"I beg you will not address yourself to me. I don't know you, I don't
+wish to know you," I replied, with all the dignity I could assume. "I
+decline to hold any conversation with you," and I moved away.
+
+But several of his rowdy friends closed around me and held me there,
+compelled to listen to his gibes as he rattled on.
+
+"How is his lordship? Well, I hope. None the worse for that little
+_contretemps_ this morning. May I ask you to convey to him my deep
+regrets for what occurred, and my sincere wishes for his recovery? If
+there is anything I can do for his lordship, any information I can
+give him, he knows, I trust, that he can command me. Does he propose
+to make a lengthened stay here?"
+
+"His lordship--" I tried vainly to interrupt him.
+
+"Let me urge him most strongly to go through the course. The warm
+baths are truly delightful and most efficacious in calming the temper
+and restoring the nerve-power. He should take the Aix treatment, he
+should indeed. I am doing so, tell him; it may encourage him."
+
+"Colonel, this is quite insufferable," I cried, goaded almost to
+madness. "I shall stand no more of it. Leave me in peace, I'll have no
+more truck with you."
+
+"And yet it would be wiser. I am the only person who can be of any use
+to you. You will have to come to me yet. Better make friends."
+
+"We can do without you, thank you," I said stiffly. "His lordship
+would not be beholden to you, I feel sure. He can choose his own
+agents."
+
+"And in his own sneaking, underhand way," the Colonel answered
+quickly, and with such a meaning look that I was half-afraid he
+suspected that we were tampering with his man. "But two can play at
+that game, as you may find some day."
+
+When I met l'Echelle that same evening as arranged, at the Café Amadeo
+in the Place Carnot, I questioned him closely as to whether his master
+had any suspicion of him, but he answered me stoutly it was quite
+impossible.
+
+"He knows I see you, that of course, but he firmly believes it is in
+his own service. He is just as anxious to know what you are doing as
+you are to observe him. By the way, have you heard anything of your
+other man?"
+
+"Why should I tell you?"
+
+"Oh, don't trouble; only if I could pass him on a bit of news either
+way it might lead him to show his hand. If Tiler is getting 'hot'--you
+know the old game--he might like to go after him. If Tiler is thrown
+out the Colonel will want to give help in the other direction."
+
+"That's sound sense, I admit. But all I can tell you is we had a
+telegram from him an hour or two ago which doesn't look as if he was
+doing much good. It was sent from Lyons, a roundabout way of getting
+to Paris from here, and now he's going south! Of all the born idiots!"
+
+"Poor devil! That's how he's made. It's not everyone who's a born
+detective, friend Falfani. It's lucky my lord has you at his elbow."
+
+We parted excellent friends. The more I saw of l'Echelle the more I
+liked him. It was a pleasure to work with a man of such acute
+perceptions, and I told him so.
+
+Nothing fresh occurred that night or the next day. I was never very
+far off my Colonel, and watched him continually but unobtrusively. I
+hope I know my business well enough for that.
+
+I was rather struck by a change in his demeanour. It was very subtle,
+and everyone might have noticed it. He wore an air of preoccupation
+that spoke to me of an uneasy mind. He was unhappy about something;
+some doubt, some secret dread oppressed him, and more than once I
+thought he wished to keep out of sight and avoid my searching
+interrogative eyes.
+
+"You're right," said l'Echelle. "He's down on his luck, and he don't
+want you to see it. He's dying for news that don't seem in a hurry to
+come. Half a dozen times to-day he's asked me to inquire if there's a
+telegram for him, and he haunts the hall porter's box continually in
+the hope of getting one. Have you heard any more from Tiler?"
+
+"Yes, another mad telegram, this time from Marseilles. Fancy that! It
+will be Constantinople next or Grand Cairo or Timbuctoo. The folly of
+it!"
+
+"What does my lord say?"
+
+"Plenty, and it's not pleasant to bear. He's getting fairly wild, and
+cart ropes won't hold him. He wants to go racing after Tiler now, and
+if he does he'll give away the whole show. I hope to heaven your boss
+will show his hand soon."
+
+"It's not for me to make him, you must admit that. But cheer up,
+_copain_, things may mend."
+
+They did, as often happens when they seem to be at their worst.
+
+I have always been an early riser, and was specially so at Aix, now
+when the heat was intense, and the pleasantest hours of the day were
+before the sun had risen high. I was putting the finishing touches to
+my toilette about 7 A.M. when I heard a knock at my door, and
+without waiting permission l'Echelle rushed in.
+
+"Already dressed? What luck! There is not a moment to lose. Come
+along. I've a _fiacre_ at the door below."
+
+He gave the _établissement_ as the address, and we were soon tearing
+down the hill. As we drove along l'Echelle told me the news.
+
+"It's come, that satanic telegram, and just what he wanted, I'm
+prepared to swear. He simply jumped for joy when he read it."
+
+"But what was the message? Go on, go on, out with it!" I shouted
+almost mad with excitement.
+
+"I can't tell you that, for I haven't seen it yet."
+
+"Are you making a fool of me?"
+
+"How could I see it? He put it straight into his pocket. But I mean
+to see it pretty soon, and so shall you."
+
+"You mean to abstract it somehow--pick his pocket, or what?"
+
+"Simplest thing in the world. You see he's gone to have his bath, he
+likes to be early, and he's undergoing the douche at this very moment,
+which means naturally that he's taken off his clothes, and they are
+waiting in the dressing-room for me to take home. I shall have a good
+quarter of an hour and more to spare before they carry him back to the
+hotel in his blankets and get him to bed."
+
+"Ha!" I said, "that's a brilliant idea. How do you mean to work it
+out?"
+
+"Take the telegram out of his waistcoat pocket, read it, or bring it
+to you."
+
+"Bring it; that will be best," I interrupted, feeling a tinge of
+suspicion.
+
+"But I must put it straight back," continued l'Echelle, "for he is
+sure to ask for it directly he returns to the hotel."
+
+Within a few minutes he had gone in and out again, carrying now one of
+the black linen bags used by _valets de chambres_ to carry their
+masters' clothes in. He winked at me as he passed, and we walked
+together to a shady, retired spot in the little square where the
+cab-stand is, and sat in the newspaper kiosk on a couple of
+straw-bottomed chairs of the Central _café_.
+
+"Read that," he said triumphantly, as he handed me the familiar scrap
+of blue paper.
+
+"Have got safely so far with nurse and baby--entreat you to follow
+with all possible speed--dying to get on.--CLAIRE, Hôtel
+Cavour, Milan."
+
+"Excellent!" I cried, slapping my thigh. "This settles all doubts. So
+much for that fool Tiler. My lord will be very grateful to you," and I
+handed him back the telegram, having first copied it word for word in
+my note-book.
+
+"It means, I suppose," suggested l'Echelle, "that you will make for
+Milan, too?"
+
+"No fear--by the first train. You'll be clever if you get the start of
+us, for I presume you will be moving."
+
+"I haven't the smallest doubt of that; we shall be quite a merry
+party. It will be quite like old times."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+[_Colonel Annesley again._]
+
+
+I had no reason to complain of the course of events culminating in the
+affair at Culoz. I defended to myself the assault upon Lord Blackadder
+as in a measure provoked and justifiable under the circumstances,
+although I was really sorry for him and at the poor figure he cut
+before the police magistrate and gendarmes. But I could not forget the
+part he had played throughout, nor was I at all disposed to turn aside
+from my set purpose to help the ladies in their distress. Every man of
+proper feeling would be moved thereto, and I knew in my secret heart
+that very tender motives impelled me to the unstinting championship of
+Lady Claire.
+
+I was still without definite news of what had happened between the two
+sisters while I was covering their movements at Culoz. I could not
+know for certain whether or not the exchange had actually been
+effected, and I did not dare inquire about the station, for it might
+betray facts and endanger results. I had no hope of a message from
+Lady Henriette, for she would hardly know where to address me. Lady
+Claire would almost certainly telegraph to me via London at the very
+earliest opportunity, and I was careful to wire from Culoz to the hall
+porter of my club, begging him to send on everything without a
+moment's delay.
+
+Then, while still in the dark, I set myself like a prudent general to
+discover what the enemy was doing. He was here in Aix in the persons
+of Lord Blackadder and his two devoted henchmen, Falfani and Tiler. I
+had heard the appointment he had given them at the Hôtel Hautecombe,
+and I cast about me to consider how I might gain some inkling of their
+intentions. Luckily I had desired l'Echelle, the sleeping-car
+conductor, to stick to me on leaving the police office, and I put it
+to him whether or not he was willing to enter my service.
+
+"I will take you on entirely," I promised, "if you choose to leave
+your present employment. You shall be my own man, my valet and
+personal attendant. It is likely that I may wander about the
+Continent for some time, and it may suit you to come with me."
+
+He seemed pleased at the idea, and we quickly agreed as to terms.
+
+"Now, l'Echelle," I went on, "after last night I think I may trust you
+to do what I want, and I promise you I won't forget it. Find out what
+the other side is at, and contrive somehow to become acquainted with
+Lord Blackadder's plans."
+
+"How far may I go?" he asked me plump. "They are pretty sure to try
+and win me over, they've done so already. Shall I accept their bid? It
+would be the easiest way to know all you want."
+
+"It's devilish underhand," I protested.
+
+"You'll be paying them back in their own coin," he returned. "_A
+corsaire fieffé corsaire et demi._ It will be to my advantage, and you
+won't lose."
+
+"Upon my soul, I don't quite like it." I still hung back, but his
+arguments seemed so plausible that they overcame my scruples, and I
+was not sorry for it in the long run.
+
+[_The reader has already been told how Falfani craftily approached
+l'Echelle, and found him, as he thought, an easy prey. We know how
+the communication was kept up between the two camps, how Falfani was
+fooled into believing that he kept close watch over Colonel Annesley
+through l'Echelle, how the latter told his real master the true news
+of the progress made by Tiler. When there could be little doubt that
+the chase was growing warm and had gone as far as Lyons, the Colonel
+felt that there was danger and that he must take more active steps to
+divert the pursuit and mislead the pursuers. The Colonel shall
+continue in his own words._]
+
+I was much disturbed when I learnt that Tiler had wired from Lyons. I
+saw clearly what it meant. The next message would disclose the
+whereabouts of the Lady Claire, at that time the only lady, as they
+thought, in the case, and the lady with the real child. It would soon
+be impossible for me to make use of the second with the sham child to
+draw the pursuers after her. In this it must be understood that,
+although I had no certainty of it, I took it for granted that the
+little Lord Aspdale was with his aunt and not with his mother, who, as
+I sincerely believed, had already reached Fuentellato.
+
+It was essential now to persuade my Lord Blackadder and his people
+that this was the case, and induce them to embark upon a hasty
+expedition into Italy.
+
+I therefore concocted a cunning plan with l'Echelle for leading them
+astray. It was easy enough to arrange for the despatch of a telegram
+from Milan to me at Aix, a despatch to be handed in at the former
+place by a friend of l'Echelle's, but purporting to come from Lady
+Claire. My man had any number of acquaintances in the railway service,
+one or more passed daily through Aix with the express trains going
+east or west; and with the payment of a substantial douceur the trick
+was done.
+
+The spurious message reached me in Aix early on the third morning, and
+the second act in the fraud was that l'Echelle should allow Falfani to
+see the telegram. He carried out the deception with consummate skill,
+pretending to pick my pocket of the telegram, which he then put under
+Falfani's eyes. The third act was to be my immediate exit from Aix. I
+made no secret of this, very much the reverse. Notice was given at the
+hotel bureau to prepare my bill, and insert my name on the list of
+departures by the afternoon express, the 1.41 P.M. for Modane and
+Italy. It was quite certain that I should not be allowed to go off
+alone.
+
+And suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, came a complete change in the
+situation. Not long after I had consumed my morning _café au lait_ and
+rolls, the conventional _petit déjeuner_ of French custom, a letter
+was brought to my bedside, where, again according to rule, I was
+resting after my bath.
+
+I expected no letters, no one except the porter of my London club knew
+my present address, and the interval was too short since my telegram
+to him to allow of letters reaching me in the ordinary course of the
+post.
+
+I turned over the strange missive, the address in a lady's hand quite
+unknown to me, examining it closely, as one does when mystified,
+guessing vainly at a solution instead of settling it by instantly
+breaking the seal.
+
+When at last I opened it my eye went first to the signature. To my
+utter amazement I read the name, "Henriette Standish." It was dated
+from the Hôtel de Modena, Aix-les-Bains, a small private hotel quite
+in the suburbs in the direction of the Grand Port, and it ran as
+follows:
+
+"DEAR COLONEL ANNESLEY:--I have only just seen in the
+_Gazette des Etrangers_ that you are staying in Aix. I also am here,
+having been unable to proceed on my journey as I intended after
+meeting my sister at Culoz. I thought of remaining here a few days
+longer, but I have also read Lord Blackadder's name in the list.
+
+"What is to be done? I am horribly frightened, and greatly vexed with
+myself for having put myself in this painful and most embarrassing
+position.
+
+"May I venture to ask your counsel and help? I beg and entreat you
+will come to me as soon as possible after receipt of this. Ask for
+Mrs. Blair. Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting you,
+your extreme kindness to Claire emboldens me to make this appeal to
+you. I shall be at home all the morning. Indeed, I have hardly left
+the house yet, and certainly shall not do so now that I know _he_ is
+here.
+
+"Always very gratefully and sincerely yours,
+
+"HENRIETTE STANDISH."
+
+Here was a pretty kettle of fish! Lady Blackadder in Aix! Was there
+ever such a broken reed of a woman? Already she had spoilt her
+sister's nice combinations by turning back from Amberieu when the road
+to safety with her darling child lay open to her. Now for the second
+time she was putting our plans in jeopardy. How could I hope to lure
+her pursuers away to a distance when she was here actually on the
+spot, and might be run into at any moment? For the present all my
+movements were in abeyance. I had reason to fear--how much reason I
+did not even then realize--they would be interfered with, and that a
+terrible collapse threatened us.
+
+I dressed hurriedly and walked down to the Hôtel Modena, where I was
+instantly received. "Mrs. Blair" had given orders that I should be
+admitted the moment I appeared. I had had one glimpse of this tall,
+graceful creature, who so exactly reproduced the beautiful traits of
+her twin sister that she might indeed at a distance be taken for her
+double. There was the same proud carriage of her head, the same lithe
+figure, even her musical voice when she greeted me with shy cordiality
+might have been the voice of Lady Claire.
+
+But the moment I looked into her face I saw a very distinct
+difference, not in outward feature, but in the inward character that
+is revealed by the eyes, the lines of the mouth, the shape of the
+lower jaw. In Lady Claire the first were steady and spoke of high
+courage, of firm, fixed purpose; the mouth, as perfectly curved as
+Cupid's bow, was resolute and determined, the well-shaped, rounded
+chin was held erect, and might easily become defiant, even aggressive.
+
+Lady Henriette was evidently cast in another mould. Her eyes, of the
+same violet blue, were pretty, pleading, soft in expression, but often
+downcast and deprecating; the mouth and chin were weak and irresolute.
+It was the same lovely face as Lady Claire's, and to some might seem
+the sweeter, indicating the tender, clinging, yielding nature that
+commonly appeals to the stronger sex; but to me she lost in every
+respect by comparison with her more energetic, self-reliant sister.
+
+I heard the explanation, such as it was, without the smallest
+surprise; it was very much what I expected now when I was permitted to
+know and appreciate her better.
+
+"What shall I say, Colonel Annesley, and what will you think of me?"
+she began plaintively, almost piteously. "But the moment I found I
+had to part with my child my courage broke down. I became incapable of
+doing anything. I seemed quite paralyzed. I am not brave, you know,
+like my dearest Claire, or strong-minded, and I quite collapsed."
+
+"But I hope and trust you have made the exchange. Lady Claire has
+little Lord Aspdale and has left you the dummy? Tell me, I beg."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, we made the exchange," she replied, in such a
+faltering, undecided voice that I doubted, and yet could not bring
+myself to believe that she was not telling the truth.
+
+"So much depends upon it, you see. Everything indeed. It would be a
+very serious matter if--if--"
+
+"The contrary was the case," I wanted to say, yet how could I? I
+should be charging her directly with wilfully misleading me, and
+deceiving me in this moment of extreme peril.
+
+"But what will happen now?" she said, her voice faltering, her eyes
+filling, and seemingly on the very verge of hysterics. "What if
+Blackadder should find that I am here, and--and--"
+
+"He can do nothing to you unless he has a right to act, unless," I
+answered unhesitatingly and a little cruelly perhaps, regardless of
+the scared look in her face, "you have good reason to dread his
+interference. Lady Henriette, you have not been quite straight with
+me, I fear. Where is little Lord Aspdale?"
+
+"In there!" she pointed to an inner room, and burst into
+uncontrollable tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+To say that I was aghast at the discovery of Lady Blackadder, or, as
+she preferred to call herself, Lady Henriette Standish, in Aix, and
+with the precious child, would but imperfectly express my feelings.
+For the moment I was so utterly taken aback that I could decide upon
+no new plan of action. I sat there helplessly staring at the poor
+creature, so full of grief and remorse that I was quite unable to rise
+to the occasion. I had counted so securely upon tricking Lord
+Blackadder into a barren pursuit that my disappointment was
+overwhelming and paralyzed my inventiveness.
+
+Only by slow degrees did I evolve certain definite facts and
+conclusions. The most essential thing was to get Lord Blackadder away
+from Aix. So long as he remained he was an ever present danger; our
+game was up directly he awoke to the true state of affairs. He could
+appeal now to the police with better result than when claiming my
+condign punishment. How was he to be got away? By drawing him after
+me. Clearly I must go, and that not alone, but take them with me,
+following me under the positive impression that I was leading them
+straight to their goal. Not one hint, not the slightest suspicion must
+be permitted to reach them that their quarry was here, just under
+their feet. Undoubtedly I must adhere to my first plan. When I had
+gone on with the others at my heels, the coast would be clear for Lady
+Henriette, and she must double back once more and go into safe hiding
+somewhere, while the hunt overshot its quarry and rolled on.
+
+So soon as Lady Blackadder recovered from her agitation, I essayed to
+win her approval of my plans. But the idea of parting from me now that
+she had laid hold of me was so repugnant to her that she yielded once
+more to her nerves.
+
+"I beg and implore you, Colonel Annesley, not to leave me again. I
+cannot possibly stay here alone. Let me go with you, please, please.
+I'll do what you like, disguise myself, go third class, anything; but
+for goodness' sake don't desert me, or I don't know what will
+happen."
+
+"There is simply no help for it, Lady Henriette. You simply must. It
+is imperative that you should remain here at least for a day or two
+while the others clear out of your way. It would be quite fatal if
+they saw you or you came across them."
+
+"Oh, you're too cruel, it is perfectly inhuman. I shall tell Claire, I
+am sure she will take my part. Oh, why isn't she here, why did I let
+her leave me? I think I am the most wretched and ill-used woman
+alive."
+
+These lamentations and indirect reproaches rather hardened my heart.
+The woman was so unreasonable, so little mindful of what was being
+done for her, that I lost my patience, and said very stiffly:
+
+"Lady Henriette, let us quite understand one another. Do you want to
+keep your child? I tell you candidly there is only one way to save
+it."
+
+"My darling Aspdale! Of course I want to keep him. How can you suggest
+such a horrid idea? It is not a bit what I expected from you. Claire
+told me--never mind what; but please understand that I will never give
+my baby up."
+
+I was nettled by her perverseness, and although I tried hard to
+school myself to patience, it was exceedingly difficult.
+
+"Indeed, Lady Henriette, I have no desire to separate you from your
+child, nor would I counsel you under any circumstances to give it up.
+But quite certainly while you are here in Aix you are in imminent
+danger of losing it. You ought never to have kept it--it was madness
+to come here and run straight into the jaws of danger."
+
+"How was I to know?" she retorted, now quite angrily. "I really think
+it is too bad of you to reproach me. You are most unkind."
+
+"Dear, dear," I said fretfully, "this is all beside the question. What
+is most urgent is to shield and save you now when the peril is most
+pressing."
+
+"And yet you propose to leave me to fight it out alone? Is that
+reasonable? Is it generous, chivalrous, to desert a poor woman in her
+extremity?"
+
+"I protest, you must not put it like that. I have explained the
+necessity. Surely you must see that it would be madness, quite fatal
+for us, to be seen together, or for you to be seen at all. I must
+still hoodwink them by going off this afternoon."
+
+"And leave me without protection, with all I have at stake? If only
+Claire was here."
+
+"It wouldn't mend matters much, except that Lady Claire would side
+with me."
+
+"Oh, yes, you say that, you believe she thinks so much of you and your
+opinion that she would agree to anything you suggest."
+
+"Mine is the safest and the only course," I replied, I am afraid with
+some heat. "You must, you shall take it."
+
+"Upon my word, Colonel Annesley, you speak to me as if I were a
+private soldier. Be good enough to remember that I am not under your
+orders. I claim to decide for myself how I shall act."
+
+She was no longer piteous or beseeching; her tears had dried, a flush
+of colour had risen to her cheeks, and it was evident that her despair
+had given place to very distinct temper.
+
+I was in a rage myself, and sprang to my feet with a sharp exclamation
+of disgust.
+
+"Really, Lady Henriette, you will drive me to wash my hands of the
+whole business. But I came into it to oblige your sister, and I owe it
+to her to do my best without reference to you. I have marked out a
+line for myself, and I shall follow it. Unless you are disposed to
+change your views, I shall stick to mine; and I do not see the use of
+prolonging this interview. I will bid you good day."
+
+I moved towards the door, still keeping an eye on her, believing her
+to be quite set in her fatuous refusal to hear reason. She still held
+herself erect and defiant, and there seemed to be small hope of doing
+anything with her. Then suddenly I saw symptoms of giving way. Signals
+of distress were hung out in her quivering lip and the nervous
+twitching of her hands. All at once she broke down and cried
+passionately:
+
+"No, no, no; you must not leave me--not like that. I cannot bear it; I
+am too miserable, too agitated, too terrified. I have no one to lean
+on but you. What shall I do? What shall I do?" And she collapsed into
+a chair, weeping as if her heart would break.
+
+The situation was awkward, embarrassing. At another time I might have
+been puzzled how to deal with it, but this was a moment of supreme
+emergency. A great crisis was imminent, the ruin of our scheme and the
+downfall of our hopes were certainly at hand if I gave way to her.
+Everything depended upon my action, and I knew that the only chance
+of safety lay in the execution of my design.
+
+This being so, her tears made no great impression on me. I may be
+called a hard-hearted brute, but I really had no great sympathy with
+her in her lamentations. It was not an occasion for tears, I felt; and
+I must be firm and unwavering, whatever she might think of me. I
+counted, at any rate, and with some assurance, on the approval of Lady
+Claire if the details of this painful scene should ever come to her
+ears.
+
+Nor could I wait till she chose to regain her composure. Time was too
+precious to be wasted in any attempts to win her back to common sense,
+and without waiting for permission I crossed the room, rang the bell,
+and begged the waiter to summon the lady's maid. She was a strongly
+built, matter-of-fact French woman, probably not easily disturbed; but
+she glanced apprehensively at her mistress, and turned a suspicious
+look on me.
+
+"You had better see to your lady," I said sharply. "She has an attack
+of nerves. I've no doubt it will soon pass, but I'm afraid I have
+imparted some distressing news. Be good enough to tell her when she
+recovers that I shall come back in half an hour, when I trust she
+will be ready to accompany me."
+
+"What is this?" broke in Lady Henriette, suddenly interposing and
+evidently roused to deep interest in my words. "Accompany you? Where,
+I should like to know?"
+
+"Is that of much consequence? You have entreated me not to leave you.
+Well, we shall not part; I propose to take you away with me. Do you
+object? It was your own wish."
+
+"I retract that. I will not go with you; certainly not in the dark.
+You must tell me first where you think of going, what you mean to do.
+Is it likely that I should trust myself alone with an almost complete
+stranger--a man who has shown me so little consideration, who has been
+so unkind, so cruel, and who now wants to carry me off goodness knows
+where, because he is so _obstinately determined_ that his is the right
+way to proceed."
+
+"Lady Henriette," I said civilly but very coldly, and putting the drag
+on myself, for I confess she was trying me very hard, "let there be no
+misunderstanding between us. Either you consent to my proposals
+absolutely and unhesitatingly, or I shall withdraw altogether from
+your service. I have felt that I had a duty to Lady Claire, and I
+have been honestly anxious to discharge it, but by your present
+attitude I feel myself absolved from that duty. I am not unwilling to
+accept responsibility, but only if I am allowed to act as I please."
+
+"Oh, how like a man! Of course you must have your own way, and every
+one else must give in to you," she cried with aggravating emphasis,
+giving me no credit for trying to choose the wisest course.
+
+"I know I'm right," I urged, a little feebly perhaps, for I was nearly
+worn out by her prejudice and utterly illogical refusal to see how the
+land lay. But I quickly recovered myself, and said quite peremptorily,
+"You shall have half an hour to make up your mind, not a minute more,
+Lady Henriette. You shall give me my answer when I return. I warn you
+that I shall bring a carriage in half an hour, and I strongly advise
+you to be ready to start with me. Have everything packed, please, and
+the bill paid. I will take no denial, remember that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+I returned to my hotel vexed and irritated beyond measure by my
+passage at arms with Lady Henriette Standish, and hating the prospect
+of any further dealings with her. I very cordially echoed her repeated
+cry for Lady Claire. Matters would have been very different had her
+strong-minded sister been on the spot to use her influence and help us
+with her counsel. What a contrast between the two women! I was more
+and more drawn to the one, and more and more heartily despised the
+other.
+
+With my mind full of the beautiful creature who had made me a willing
+captive to her charms, her gracious presence was recalled to me by a
+message from under her own hand. As I passed the threshold of my
+hotel, the hall porter gave me a telegram from Lady Claire. It had
+come via London, but the office of origin was Marseilles.
+
+     "Reached so far, yesterday," it said. "One of them turned up
+     this morning--have no fear--exchange not effected--shall
+     remain here for the present--Hotel Terminus.
+
+     "CLAIRE."
+
+I read and re-read this passage with a delightful feeling that it
+brought me into touch with my love, and I may be permitted for seeing
+in it clear proof of her bright wit and intelligence. She told me just
+exactly all that it was essential to know: of the pursuit, of the
+absence of pressing danger, of the abortive attempt to exchange
+babies, and where she was to be found. Suppose that I had not met Lady
+Henriette, I was fully prepared for anything that might occur.
+
+It was now barely 10 A.M., and the time intervening before
+the departure of the eastward bound express (three and a half hours)
+was none too much to carry out my intentions as to Lady Henriette.
+
+I first of all ordered a covered landau to be harnessed as speedily as
+possible, and to be sent to await me in a side street near the Hôtel
+Modena; then I summoned l'Echelle and bade him make all ready for the
+journey. I also told him that I should be busily engaged that
+forenoon; but that as I might be obliged to run it very close for the
+train, he was to make all preparations, to take the tickets, and await
+me on the platform. I had debated anxiously with myself how far I
+should betray the presence of Lady Henriette in Aix to l'Echelle, and
+decided that, although I had no particular reason to doubt him, I felt
+that it would be more prudent to keep the fact to myself. For the same
+reason I kept him busily engaged in my bedroom packing, lest he should
+spy upon my movements. There was still the fear that Falfani might be
+on the watch, but I had been assured by l'Echelle that the Blackadder
+party were so satisfied by the news he gave them that they left the
+business of shadowing almost entirely to him.
+
+I was pretty sure that I reached the Hôtel Modena unobserved. I came
+upon the carriage by the way, and as I passed briefly desired the
+driver to follow me to the Hôtel Modena. Arriving there, I sent up my
+name, and followed it, a little unceremoniously, to Lady Henriette's
+sitting-room.
+
+She was there, dressed in hat and jacket, and so far disposed to
+comply with my wishes. Her maid, Victorine, was with her, the baby on
+her knee. Her baggage, happily light enough, was there, packed and all
+ready for a start.
+
+But if I thought that Lady Henriette meant to yield without another
+skirmish I was sadly mistaken. I was in for much more than a skirmish;
+it was to be a battle royal.
+
+"The carriage is at the door," I said as pleasantly as possible. "We
+have nearly an hour's drive before us, and I am delighted to think
+that you are ready and willing to go with me."
+
+"I am ready, as you see, but not willing," she answered, bridling up
+with a scornful air. "Very much the reverse indeed. The more I think
+over it the more outrageous and preposterous your behaviour seems.
+Where are we going? I insist upon knowing. I must have a plain
+categorical answer or I will not move an inch." Her dogged, determined
+air was belied by her dress and the obvious preparations already made
+for departure. Her present attitude I set down to the vacillation of
+her character. She might make up her mind one moment and one way, and
+yet be quite prepared to change it the next.
+
+"You are fully entitled to know where you are going, and I have not
+the smallest desire to keep it from you," I replied, still speaking in
+a smooth, courteous voice. "I propose that you should take up your
+residence for a time--the very shortest time possible--at Le Bourget,
+a small place at the head of the lake. You may know it; there is a
+snug little hotel in the village, the Dent du Chat. You will like it."
+
+"I shall not like it. I dislike the whole idea exceedingly. Why should
+I be buried alive in such an out-of-the-way spot?"
+
+"It will be no worse than Fuentellato, a place you chose for
+yourself."
+
+"I have a house of my own there--my own servants. It is perfectly
+safe."
+
+"Not now, believe me, they will come upon you there; trace you easily
+and quickly, and they are capable of any violence to capture and
+deprive you of your treasure." I pointed to the child on the maid's
+knee.
+
+"I shall be more at their mercy here in Aix."
+
+"Be guided by me. I am certain of what I say. All will be well if you
+will only keep out of the way now for a few hours, perhaps at most a
+couple of days. If they do not find you at once they will never find
+you. Only let me have a short start ahead and I'll lead them a pretty
+dance, and take them further and further away. You may rely on it, and
+I assure you they will never be able to find you or do you any harm."
+
+"I wish I could believe you," she said. "If I could only believe in
+you and trust you as Claire does," she murmured pathetically, still
+tortured by doubt. "Why has Claire deserted me? If she were only here,
+or I knew where to find her!"
+
+I was on the point of imparting my last news, but I checked myself.
+Lady Henriette had seen her last, and must be well aware of the
+direction she was taking to Lyons and Marseilles. It would only
+unsettle her to know that her sister was at Marseilles to-day, and
+would be at Genoa to-morrow. She would be mad to join her, and it was
+my most earnest wish that, for the present at least, Lady Henriette
+should keep quiet in the background with her charge.
+
+"You will soon be able to communicate with her, no doubt. Of course
+you arranged that at Culoz?"
+
+"We arranged nothing. It was all so hurried, and we had much to talk
+about. She was so hard on me when I declared I could not part with my
+blessed boy. We had words--"
+
+"Ah!" I had heard enough to know that there had been a strong
+difference of opinion, a sharp quarrel probably, and that Lady Claire
+had not spared her sister at this fresh exhibition of ridiculous
+weakness.
+
+"May I ask, please, whether you were to believe in me or not?" I
+resumed, taking up the discussion where I had left it. "We must be
+moving if we are to go at all."
+
+Her acquiescence, now tardily given, was surly and ungracious.
+
+"I suppose I cannot help myself; I am quite at your mercy. You may be
+sure I shall not easily forget this, or forgive your overbearing
+treatment. I will go, but under protest."
+
+She led the way herself and entered the carriage first, motioning to
+Victorine to hand her the baby and take her seat inside. She made no
+such sign to me, although I followed close behind. But I also got in
+without invitation, only explaining that it might not be wise to show
+myself on the box.
+
+The coachman had his orders, and he drove off briskly along the
+Marlioz road till he reached the turning towards the head of the
+lake. In less than an hour we pulled up before the Hôtel Dent du
+Chat, a simple, unpretending hostelry, to which I had telegraphed in
+advance, stating my needs. We were received with profuse civility, the
+best of everything placed at our disposal, a best at which Lady
+Henriette, as I might have expected, turned up her nose, sniffing and
+scornful.
+
+She uttered no complaint, she would not address a word to me; her air
+was one of lofty, contemptuous reserve; she intimated plainly that we
+were "dead cuts."
+
+Only at the last, just as I was driving away and lifted my hat in
+farewell, she yielded to an impulse of despair, and seized my arm in
+almost frenzied appeal.
+
+"You must not, you cannot desert me; I will not be left like this. No
+man, no gentleman would do it. I beg and implore you to remain within
+reach, somewhere near at any rate. I can never face this place alone."
+
+Her last appeal touched me to the quick. Once more I sought to explain
+the dire necessity for this act that seemed so barbarous, but she was
+deaf to all my arguments, and still clung to me nervously as I climbed
+into the carriage.
+
+When at length I got away, and I persisted in leaving, being so fully
+satisfied it was for the best, her piteous, reproachful accents still
+rung in my ears, and I shall count that return drive to Aix as the
+most miserable hour I have passed in my life.
+
+The whole episode had occupied much time, and it was already past one
+when I reëntered the town. I drove straight to the railway station,
+and was met outside it by the faithful l'Echelle.
+
+"Monsieur, monsieur, will you believe it? They have gone half an hour
+ago, and not by the eastern but the western express."
+
+"You saw them?"
+
+"I spoke to them. Falfani himself told me of the change in their
+plans. The latest news from their man in the south was so positive,
+and has so convinced my lord, that he is hastening full speed to join
+Tiler, and they are only too delighted to leave you behind."
+
+I laughed aloud with intense satisfaction.
+
+"You do not mind, monsieur? You have no reason to fear them?"
+
+"Not the least in the world, they are playing into my hands. I, too,
+have changed my plans. I shall now remain in Aix for some time
+longer. I shall be glad to go on with the baths."
+
+But I was thinking really of that poor creature I had abandoned at Le
+Bourget, and overjoyed to think that I might now meet her wishes, and
+perchance regain something of her good-will.
+
+Once more I took the road to Le Bourget, driving over by the first
+_fiacre_ I could pick up on the stand, a much slower journey than the
+first, and it was nearly 3 P.M. when I reached the little
+hotel.
+
+It was indeed a day of surprises, of strange emotions and moving
+incidents.
+
+When I alighted and asked for "Mrs. Blair," I was answered abruptly
+that she was gone.
+
+"Gone? When? How?" I cried, in utter amazement.
+
+"Madame went very soon after monsieur," said the _patronne_, in high
+dudgeon. "She was not complimentary, she said this place was too
+_triste_, that it got on her nerves. She called me up and said I was
+to bring her the _Indicateur_. Then she must have a carriage as soon
+as it could be prepared to drive her to Culoz, fifteen miles away,
+meaning to take the train from there."
+
+"Not to Aix?"
+
+"Assuredly not, for when I suggested that she could more easily find
+the train there she told me to hold my tongue, that she knew very well
+what she was about, and wanted no observations from me."
+
+To Culoz? She was bound then to follow her sister, I felt sure of it;
+and I was aghast, foreshadowing the new dangers opening before her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+[_The Lady Claire Standish has her say._]
+
+
+It was as much as I could do to restrain myself when I saw my gallant
+knight, the Colonel, rush at that despicable creature, Lord
+Blackadder, and shake him. I wanted to put my head out of the window
+and cry, "Well done!" But I saw the folly of it, much as I was
+delighted, and checked any demonstration of joy. I had no time to
+spare for anything outside our settled plan, so I jumped out on to the
+platform at once, and closely followed by Philpotts joined Henriette,
+and cried:
+
+"Quick, quick, dear, the train goes on in less than ten minutes. Give
+me the child, we must exchange again."
+
+"What do you mean?" she gasped, and looked at me dazed and bewildered.
+"Why should I part with my boy, my own boy! I cannot, indeed I cannot.
+Why? Why?"
+
+"Because Blackadder is over there, and in another minute or two the
+child will be taken forcibly from you. Luckily I can still save it."
+
+"Oh, but please, Claire, please explain. I do not understand, not in
+the least. What am I to do? I haven't heard, I do not know."
+
+"Go on to Fuentellato with the dummy. It is the easiest thing in the
+world. They will follow you, Colonel Annesley will see to that, while
+I carry our darling to some secure hiding-place and keep out of sight
+until we can meet. There, do not, for heaven's sake, delay. Give me
+the child."
+
+"I can't, I can't. I will not part with it. My own, my precious babe.
+Never. Nothing will induce me."
+
+"Upon my word, Henriette, you are too aggravating and impossible. To
+think that now at the eleventh hour you should fail me and break down.
+Are you going to spoil everything! Let me take little Ralph;" and I
+put out my arms for the child, which Victorine held.
+
+But the mother stood between us, seized the baby convulsively, and
+with a gesture of repulsion cried:
+
+"Go away, go away, you shall not have him. I don't care what happens,
+I will keep him against all the world."
+
+I pleaded and stormed in turn, I tried everything but force, all
+without avail. My foolish sister seemed to have taken leave of her
+senses; she thought nothing of the nearly certain collapse of our
+schemes, her one overmastering idea was, like any tigress, to resist
+all attempts to deprive her of her cub.
+
+Meanwhile the time ran on. Already the officials were crying "_En
+voiture_," and I knew my train was timed to leave at five minutes past
+8 A.M. If I lingered I should lose it, no great matter perhaps, seeing
+that the exchange, my principal object, had not been made; but if I
+remained with Henriette, she with her baby and I with mine, the whole
+of the artifice might at any moment be laid bare.
+
+I had to decide then and there, and all I could think of at the time
+was to keep the enemy in the dark as to the doubled part of the baby.
+At first I thought of sending Philpotts on alone with her charge and
+remaining with Henriette. She was so helpless, so weak and vacillating
+that I had small hope of her getting through to Fuentellato by
+herself. That was clearly the wisest course, and I should have taken
+it, but I was sorely vexed and put out by her obstinate refusal to
+play her part; and I told her so.
+
+"Once more and for the last time, Henriette, will you do what I want?"
+I asked her peremptorily.
+
+She only hugged her baby the closer and whispered a soft lullaby.
+
+"Then I shall go on with the other. It may be best. They may still be
+drawn after me, and leave you to your own devices. The only thing for
+you to do is to take the first train the other way,--it will be here
+in ten minutes,--keep low and you may get through into Italy
+unobserved."
+
+"Are you really deserting me?" she cried piteously. "When shall I see
+you again?"
+
+"I shall go round the long journey to Marseilles, by the South of
+France, and will join you at Fuentellato. There is no reason why you
+should not get there. Colonel Annesley will detain the others here,
+you may be sure of that. Good-bye, now," and without another word
+Philpotts and I ran round, regained the up platform, resumed our seats
+by the narrowest margin and proceeded on our way to Amberieu.
+
+The reaction from this agitating scene was little less than despair
+and collapse. So soon as I could bring myself to think calmly and at
+leisure, I realized that I had done a very foolish thing. Was it
+possible for Henriette to get off by herself? Hardly, she had not the
+nerve, I had almost said the wit, to escape alone from the toils and
+snares that encompassed her. I blamed myself, I became a prey to the
+bitterest self-reproach for having abandoned her, for allowing myself
+to give way to temper, and treat her so cruelly. As the train rattled
+on, one thought took possession of me. I must get out and go back
+instantly, at least at the very first opportunity. I must retrace my
+steps and return again to Culoz, where I hoped to be in time to
+support and strengthen her, please God save her from the consequences
+of my unkind and ill-considered action.
+
+Accordingly, at the very next station, Virieu, I alighted. It was
+still no more than 8.21. In less than an hour I was in the return
+train and once more at Culoz, where, sending Philpotts to hide with
+her charge in the inmost recesses of the ladies' waiting-room, I
+vainly explored the station for any signs of Henriette, but to my
+delight she was nowhere in sight. I was fairly entitled to suppose
+that she had gone on.
+
+The place was still in a turmoil, the consequences no doubt of the
+affray expressly begun by Colonel Annesley to befriend me. I narrowly
+escaped being seen by some of my enemies, but they were evidently too
+much preoccupied by their indignation at the outrage put upon that
+great personage, Lord Blackadder. I passed within an inch or two of my
+gallant Colonel and was sorely tempted to speak to him, but was
+deterred by the possible mischief it might entail.
+
+I was relieved when they all took seats in the eastward bound train,
+going only as far as Aix-les-Bains, where, as I heard it stated by the
+Culoz officials, the case was to be submitted to the Commissary of
+Police. I felt sure that my gallant Colonel would hold his own, I felt
+no very great concern for him. Although not fully satisfied as to
+Henriette, I was so far satisfied by coming upon all the parties,
+Ralph, Blackadder, and the rest, at Culoz, that she had disappeared
+from the scene without interference.
+
+I had now to decide upon my own movements. I debated with myself
+whether I should not follow my sister to Fuentellato, to which I made
+sure she had gone, and I had every reason to hope that I could
+eventually join her there. But it seemed to be throwing away that same
+chance of mystification which I had always kept in view, which might
+have served me so well but for her weakness, and I still clung to my
+hope of drawing them after me on the wrong scent.
+
+At one time I thought of venturing boldly into their midst and
+appearing openly at Aix; but this would probably end in abruptly
+pricking the bubble, and nothing more was to be done. I thought of
+sending Philpotts to hunt up the Colonel and convey a letter to him
+detailing my situation, and was much taken with this idea, which I
+presently rejected because I did not clearly see what good could come
+of it. I was tortured with doubts, unable to decide for the best, and
+at last, from sheer inability to choose, resolved to adhere to my
+original plan of travelling south.
+
+I would at least go to Marseilles, which I could reach that very
+night, and once there would be guided by circumstances, seeking only
+to control them to the extent of reporting my whereabouts to Henriette
+at Fuentellato, and to the Colonel via London as arranged.
+
+This as it proved was the very wisest course I could have adopted, as
+will presently appear.
+
+I was doomed to a long wait at Culoz. There was no train due westward
+till 12.40, and I had to put in nearly three solid hours, which I
+spent in wandering into the village, where I found an unpretending
+_auberge_ and a rather uneatable breakfast.
+
+Everywhere I was met with wearisome delays. A slow train to Amberieu,
+a still slower cross journey to Lyons, which I did not reach till
+nearly 4 P.M., and learnt that another hour or more must
+elapse before the departure of the next Marseilles express.
+
+The journey seemed interminable, but just as I was losing all
+patience, I received a fillip that awoke me to alertness, and set all
+my nerves tingling.
+
+The man Tiler, the second detective, the man whom I had already
+befooled more than once, was there now on the platform, waiting like
+myself to embark upon the 5.19 train south to Marseilles.
+
+He had come after me; that was perfectly clear. He, and he alone, and
+I rejoiced greatly that I had to do entirely with him. I had tried my
+strength with him more than once already, and felt myself his equal
+in guile. Although he owed me a grudge and would certainly be upon his
+guard, I thought myself strong enough to face and outwit him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+When I first caught sight of Mr. Ludovic Tiler he was busily engaged
+in conversation with one of the guards and a couple of porters. From
+his gestures, no doubt, he was describing our party, and I was
+half-inclined to walk up to him and say "Behold!" But then I drew back
+hesitating. I did not fear him in the least, but he would be sure to
+draw the others to him, and I did not quite like the idea of having
+three of them on my hands at once, and with no Colonel on my side.
+
+I could only communicate with Colonel Annesley by a roundabout
+process, and it might take him some time to reach me, even if he was
+not otherwise engaged by Henriette.
+
+This Tiler man would of course stick to me and follow me if he had the
+faintest clue, and I let him have that by directing Philpotts to show
+herself, passing quite close to him and walking on towards the train.
+She was to return then to the waiting-room, where together we made
+some change in our appearance. There were other cloaks in the bundle
+of rugs, which we put on over those we were wearing. I got out a thick
+veil, and Philpotts replaced her neat bonnet by a soft motor cap. More
+than all, we made away with the dummy child, broke up the parcel,
+resolved it into its component parts, a small pillow and many wraps,
+all of which we put away in the same convenient receptacle.
+
+Tiler certainly did not recognize us as we walked separately to the
+train. He was looking for a party of two and a baby, and all he saw
+was one woman who might remind him of me, but without her attendant or
+any encumbrance. He had his suspicions, however, for as soon as we
+started he walked through the long line of _couloir_ carriages,
+deliberately peering and prying, examining the passengers of every
+compartment. He passed us at first, and was much put out, I could see,
+disappointed no doubt, but he came back presently and stood for some
+time at our window, while I hid my face in among the rugs, and
+Philpotts cowered in a corner.
+
+He came back more than once during the journey and stared. No doubt he
+would have taken a seat in our compartment, but it was reserved for
+_dames seules_ or ladies alone. He was evidently in great doubt, so
+much so that I began to fear he would sheer off altogether. That we
+were the women he wanted was probably borne in on him, but what had
+become of the baby? I could enter into the workings of his mind on
+that point. What could we have done with it? Hidden it, left it
+somewhere on the road in the lost property office or at a foundling
+hospital? All sorts of suggestions probably presented themselves to
+him, but none would satisfy him; for why, he would reason, were we
+travelling to Marseilles or anywhere else without it?
+
+To tie him still to our heels, I took the opportunity of having the
+compartment to ourselves to revive and reconstitute the dummy. The
+baby was quickly reborn behind the drawn blinds of the carriage, and
+when at last we arrived at Marseilles at 10.30 P.M. we sallied forth
+and marched in solemn procession to the Terminus Hotel under the very
+eyes of our watchful detective. I almost laughed in his face as we
+entered the lift near the outer door, and were carried up to our rooms
+upon the second floor.
+
+I slept late, and when I woke, refreshed and fortified against
+anything that might come, I looked out on to the little square with
+its fringe of plane-trees, and saw my friend Mr. Tiler walking to and
+fro like a sentry on his beat. He had the hotel under observation that
+was clear, and it was little I should be able to do that day unknown
+to him.
+
+It did not worry me in the least, for in the early hours of calm
+reflection that followed deep, restful sleep, I had thought out the
+course I should pursue. I no longer dreaded pursuit; let them all
+come, the more the merrier, and I meant to fully justify Mr. Tiler in
+calling them to him.
+
+I dressed slowly, lingered leisurely over my _luncheon-déjeuner_, and
+then ordered a carriage, a comfortable landau and pair. I meant to
+lead my follower a fine dance, starting with the innocent intention of
+giving myself and my belongings an airing. It was a brilliant day, the
+Southern sun struck with semi-tropical fervour, the air was soft and
+sleepy in the oppressive heat. I brought out the baby undeterred, and
+installed it, slumbering peacefully, on Philpotts's knees in the seat
+before me, and lying back with ostentatious indifference, drove off
+in full view of the detective.
+
+I shot one glance back as I turned down the long slope leading to the
+Grâce-à-Dieu Street, and was pleased to see that he had jumped into a
+_fiacre_ and was coming on after me. He should have his fill of
+driving. I led him up and down and round and round, street after
+street, all along the great Cannebière and out towards the Reserve,
+where Roubion's Restaurant offers his celebrated fish stew,
+_bouillabaise_, to all comers.
+
+Then when Mr. Tiler's weedy horse began to show signs of distress, for
+my sturdy pair had outpaced him sorely, I relented and reëntered the
+town, meaning to make a long halt at the office of Messrs. Cook and
+Son, the universal friends of all travellers far and near. I had long
+had an idea in my mind that the most promising, if not the only
+effective method of ending our trouble would be to put the seas
+between us and the myrmidons of the Courts. I had always hoped to
+escape to some far-off country where the King's writ does not run,
+where we could settle down under genial skies, amid pleasant
+surroundings, at a distance from the worries and miseries of life.
+
+Now, with the enemy close at hand, and the real treasure in my foolish
+sister's care, I could not expect to evade them, but I might surely
+beguile and lead them astray. This was the plan I had been revolving
+in my mind, and which took me to the tourist offices. The object I had
+in view was to get a list of steamers leaving the port of Marseilles
+within the next two or three days, and their destination. As everybody
+knows, there is a constant moving of shipping East, West, and South,
+and it ought not to be difficult to pick out something to suit me.
+
+The obliging clerk at the counter gave me abundant, almost unending,
+information.
+
+"To the East? Why, surely, there are several opportunities. The P. and
+O. has half a dozen steamers for the East, pointing first for Port
+Said and Suez Canal, and bound to India, Ceylon, China, and the
+Antipodes; the same line for Gibraltar and the West. The Messagéries
+Maritime, for all Mediterranean ports, the General Navigation of Italy
+for Genoa and Naples, the Transatlantique for various Algerian ports,
+Tunis, Bône, Philippeville, and Algiers, other companies serving the
+coast of Morocco and especially Tangier."
+
+Truly an embarrassing choice! I took a note of all that suited, and
+promised to return after I had made a round of the shipping
+offices,--another jaunt for Tiler, and a pretty plain indication of
+what was in my mind.
+
+After full inquiry I decided in favour of Tripoli, and for several
+reasons. A steamer offered in a couple of days, Sunday, just when I
+wanted it, although it was by no means my intention to go to Tripoli
+myself. That it was somewhat out of the way, neither easy to reach nor
+to leave, as the steamers came and went rarely, served my purpose
+well. If I could only inveigle my tormentors into the trap, they might
+be caught there longer than they liked.
+
+Accordingly, I secured a good cabin on board the S.S. _Oasis_ of the
+Transatlantique, leaving Marseilles for Tripoli at 8 A.M. the
+following Sunday, and paid the necessary deposit on the passage
+ticket.
+
+It was a satisfaction to me to see my "shadow's" _fiacre_ draw up at
+the door soon after I left, and Mr. Ludovic Tiler enter the office. I
+made no doubt he would contrive, very cleverly as he thought, to find
+out exactly what I had been doing with regard to the _Oasis_.
+
+Later in the day, out of mere curiosity, I walked down to the offices
+to ask a trivial question about my baggage. It was easy to turn the
+talk to other matters connected with the voyage and my fellow
+passengers.
+
+Several other cabins had been engaged, two of them in the name of
+Ludovic Tiler.
+
+There was nothing left for me but to bide my time. I telegraphed that
+evening to Colonel Annesley, reporting myself, so to speak, and
+counted upon hearing his whereabouts in reply next day.
+
+Tiler did not show up nor trouble me, nor did I concern myself about
+him. We were really waiting for each other, and we knew enough of each
+other's plans to bide in tranquil expectation of what we thought must
+certainly follow. When I was at dinner in the hotel restaurant he
+calmly came into the room, merely to pass his eye over me as it were,
+and I took it so much as a matter of course that I looked up, and felt
+half-inclined to give him a friendly nod. We were like duellists
+saluting each other before we crossed swords, each relying upon his
+own superior skill.
+
+[_We need not reproduce in detail the rest of the matters set forth by
+Lady Claire Standish while she and the detective watched each other
+at Marseilles. Tiler, on the Saturday morning, made it plain, from
+his arrogance and self-sufficient air as he walked through the hotel
+restaurant, that all was going well, and he had indeed heard from
+Falfani that he would arrive with Lord Blackadder that night._
+
+_Later on that Saturday a telegram from Culoz reached Lady Claire from
+Colonel Annesley giving the latest news, and bringing down Lady
+Henriette's movements to the time of her departure for Marseilles. He
+promised a later message from somewhere along the road with later
+information, and soon after 9 P.M. Lady Claire was told they were
+coming through by the night train, due at Marseilles at 4 A.M. next
+morning. Thus all the parties to this imbroglio were about to be
+concentrated in the same place, and it must depend upon the skill and
+determination of one clever woman to turn events her way._]
+
+She goes on to say:
+
+It was a shock to me to hear that Henriette still lingered on the
+fringe of danger, and I was very much disturbed at finding she might
+be running into the very teeth of it. But I trusted to my good
+fortune, and, better still, to good management, to keep her out of
+harm's way until the coast was clear.
+
+I was on the platform at 10 P.M. watching for the Blackadder
+lot when they appeared. Tiler was there to receive them and spoke a
+few words to my lord, who instantly looked round, for me no doubt, and
+I slipped away. I did not wish to anticipate a crisis, and he was
+quite capable of making a scene, even at the hotel at that time of
+night. I was relieved at seeing him pass on, and the more so that he
+did not take the turn into the Terminus Hotel, my hotel, but went
+towards the entrance where a carriage was waiting for him. He meant of
+course to put up in the town, either at the Noailles or the Louvre.
+
+I lay down to take a short rest, but was roused in time to be again on
+the platform at 4 A.M. to meet my friends. It was a joyful
+meeting, but we lost little time over it. Henriette was fairly worn
+out, and all but broke down when she saw me. The Colonel came to the
+rescue as usual, and said briefly, after we had shaken hands:
+
+"Take charge of her, Lady Claire, I will see to everything now. We can
+talk later."
+
+"Can you be at the entrance to the hotel in a couple of hours' time?
+I shall want your advice, probably your assistance."
+
+"You know you have only to ask," he answered, with the prompt,
+soldierlike obedience, and the honest, unflinching look in his eyes
+that I knew so well and loved in him. Here was, indeed, a brave, loyal
+soul, to be trusted in implicitly, and with my whole heart.
+
+I felt now that I should succeed in the difficult task I had set
+myself. The plan I had conceived and hoped to work out was to send
+Lord Blackadder to sea, all the way to Tripoli, with Philpotts and the
+sham child.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+We drove down, Philpotts and I, to the wharf where the steamers of the
+Transatlantique Company lie. The _Oasis_ had her blue peter flying,
+and a long gangway stretched from her side to the shore, up and down
+which a crowd passed ceaselessly, passengers embarking, porters with
+luggage, and dock hands with freight. At the top of the slope was the
+chief steward and his men, in full dress, white shirts, white ties,
+and white gloves, who welcomed us, asking the number of our stateroom,
+and offering to relieve us of our light baggage.
+
+One put out his arms to take the baby from Philpotts, but she shook
+her head vigorously, and I cried in French that it was too precious.
+
+Next moment a voice I recognized said:
+
+"Certainly they are there, and they have it with them. Why not seize
+it at once?"
+
+"Not so fast, Lord Blackadder," I interposed, turning on him fiercely.
+"No violence, if you please, or you may make the acquaintance of
+another police commissary."
+
+I had heard the whole story of the affair at Aix from the Colonel, who
+I may say at once I had seen shortly before, and who was at no great
+distance now.
+
+"Go on, Philpotts, get down below and lock yourself in," I said
+boldly. "Our cabin is thirty-seven--" checking myself abruptly as
+though I had been too outspoken.
+
+"But, Lady Claire, permit me," it was Lord Blackadder behind, speaking
+with quite insinuating softness. "Do be more reasonable. Surely you
+perceive how this must end? Let me entreat you not to drive me to
+extremities. I mean to have the child, understand that; but we ought
+to be able to arrange this between us. Give it up to me of your own
+accord, you shall not regret it. Ask what you choose, anything--a
+pearl collar or a diamond bracelet--"
+
+"Can you really be such a base hound, such an abject and contemptible
+creature, as to propose terms of that sort to me? How dare you think
+so ill of me? Let me pass; I cannot stay here, it would poison me to
+breathe the same air. Never speak to me again," I almost shouted,
+filled with bitter shame and immeasurable scorn, and I turned and left
+him.
+
+Down-stairs I found Philpotts in the cabin, busily engaged in putting
+her "doll" to bed in the third berth.
+
+"Are you at all afraid of being left with these wretches?" I asked a
+little doubtfully, counting upon her devotion, but loth to lay too
+great a burden on her.
+
+"Why, how can you suppose such a thing, my lady? What can they do to
+me? They will be furiously angry, of course, but the laugh will be
+against them. If the worst comes to the worst they will appeal to the
+captain, and they will get no satisfaction from him. I can take care
+of myself, never fear. You shall hear from Tripoli to the same hotel
+in Marseilles."
+
+"If we go on your letter will follow us. Come back there as soon as
+you possibly can and you will find further instructions. Now it must
+be good-bye, there goes the bell to warn people ashore. One last word:
+I advise you when well out to sea to go to my lord and offer to go
+over to his side and desert me altogether. Tell him you will help him
+to get the child,--that you will put it into his hands indeed,--at a
+price."
+
+"As if I would touch his dirty money, my lady!"
+
+"It will be only spoiling the Egyptians! Squeeze all you can out of
+him, I say. But that is as you please. You know I shall always be your
+firm friend whatever you do, and that I shall never forget what I owe
+you."
+
+I should have said much more, but now the second bell was ringing, and
+if I was to carry out my scheme it was time for me to go.
+
+On leaving the cabin I walked forward along the lower deck seeking
+another issue, the position of which I had fixed the day before,
+having visited the _Oasis_ on purpose. In a minute I had emerged into
+the open air, and found myself in the midst of the sailors sending
+down cargo into the forehold. I should have been utterly confused,
+bewildered, and terrified, but I felt a strong, firm hand close on
+mine, and a quiet, steady voice in my ear.
+
+"This way, Lady Claire, only a couple of steps," said the Colonel as
+he led me to the side of the steamer farthest from the shore. A ladder
+was fixed here and a boat was made fast to the lowest rung. Carefully,
+tenderly guided by my ever trusty henchman I made the descent, took my
+seat in the stern of the small boat, it was cast loose, and we pushed
+off into the waterway. Half an hour later we were back at the Terminus
+Hotel.
+
+For the first time in all that stirring and eventful week I breathed
+freely. At any rate the present peril was overpast, we had eluded
+pursuit, and had a clear time of perfect security to consider our
+situation and look ahead.
+
+As soon as Henriette was visible, I went up to her room to talk
+matters over. She was very humble and apologetic, and disarmed me if I
+had intended to take her to task for all the trouble and anxiety she
+had caused us. But when I magnanimously said, "I am not going to scold
+you," she was in my arms at once.
+
+"Scold me! I should think not! I have been scolded quite enough these
+last twenty-four hours. I never met a man I disliked so much as your
+fine friend, that Colonel Annesley, the rudest, most presuming,
+overbearing wretch. He talked to me and ordered me about as if I was
+still in the schoolroom, he actually dared to find fault with my
+actions, and dictated to me what I should do next. I--I--"
+
+"Did it, Henriette? Like a lamb, eh? That's a way he has, my dear," I
+laughed.
+
+"I don't envy you one bit, Claire. You'll be a miserable woman. You
+hate to give way, and he'll make you. He'll tame you, and lord it over
+you, he'll be a hard, a cruel master, for all he thinks so much of you
+now."
+
+"And does he?" What sweeter music in a woman's ear than to be told of
+the sway she exercises over the man of her choice?
+
+"Why, of course, he thinks all the world of you. He would say nothing,
+decide nothing until you had been consulted. Your word is law to him,
+your name always on his lips. You know of your latest conquest, I
+suppose?"
+
+"There are things one does not care to discuss, my dear, even with
+one's sister," I answered, rather coldly. I was a little hurt by her
+tone and manner, although what she told me gave me exquisite pleasure.
+
+"Come, come," Henriette rallied me. "Make a clean breast of it.
+Confess that you are over head and ears in love with your Colonel. Why
+not? You are free to choose, I was not," and her eyes filled with
+tears at the sad shipwreck of her married life.
+
+I strove hard to calm her, to console her, pointing to her little
+Ralph, and promising her a future of happiness with her child.
+
+"If I am allowed to keep him, yes. But how can I keep him after that
+wicked decision of the Court, and with such a persistent enemy as
+Ralph Blackadder? For the moment we are safe, but by and by he will
+come back, he will leave no stone unturned until he finds me, and I
+shall lose my darling for ever."
+
+The hopelessness of evading pursuit for any time sorely oppressed me,
+too. There seemed no safety but in keeping continually on the move, in
+running to and fro and changing our hiding place so soon as danger of
+discovery loomed near. We were like pariahs ostracized from our
+fellows, wandering Jews condemned to roam on and on, forbidden to
+pause or find peace anywhere.
+
+Yet, after a pleasant _déjeuner_, the three of us held a council of
+war.
+
+"The thing is perfectly simple," said my dear Colonel, in his
+peremptory, but to me reassuring fashion. "I have thought it all out
+and can promise you immediate escape from all your difficulties. You
+must go as quickly as you can get there, to Tangier."
+
+"Tangier!" I cried, amazed.
+
+"Yes, Lady Claire, Tangier. It is the only refuge left for
+criminals--forgive me, I mean no offence," and he laughed heartily as
+he went on. "You have broken the law, you are flying from the law, and
+you are amenable to it all the world over, save and except in Morocco
+alone. You must go to Tangier, there is no extradition, the King's
+warrant does not run there. You will be perfectly safe if you elect to
+stay there, safe for the rest of your days."
+
+"You seem very anxious to get rid of us and bury us at the back of
+beyond," I said, nettled and unable to conceal my chagrin at the
+matter-of-fact way in which he wished to dispose of us.
+
+"I venture to hope I may be permitted to accompany you, and remain
+with you--"
+
+It was now Henriette's turn to laugh outright at this rather blunt
+proposal, and I regret to add that I blushed a rosy red.
+
+"To remain with you and near you so long as my services may be
+required," he went on, gravely, by no means the interpretation my
+sister had put upon his remark; for he fixed his eyes on me with
+unmistakable meaning, and held them so fixedly that I could not look
+away. There could no longer be any doubt how "it stood with us;" my
+heart went out to him then and there, and I nodded involuntarily, more
+in answer to his own thoughts than his suggestion. I knew from the
+gladness on his frank, handsome face that he understood and rejoiced.
+
+"You see," he went on, quickly, dealing with the pressing matter in
+hand, "I know all about the place. I have soldiered at Gibraltar and
+often went over to Africa. It's not half bad, Tangier, decent hotels,
+villas furnished if you prefer it. Sport in the season, and plenty of
+galloping ground. The point is, how we should travel?"
+
+I could be of service in this; my inquiries at Cook's had qualified me
+to act as a shipping clerk, and we soon settled to take a steamer of
+the Bibby Line due that afternoon, which would land us at Gibraltar in
+two or three days. Thence to Tangier was only like crossing a ferry.
+The Colonel's man, l'Echelle, was sent to secure cabins, and we caught
+the ship in due course. Three days later we were soon comfortably
+settled in the Hotel Atlas, just above the wide sweep of sands that
+encircle the bay. It was the season of fierce heat, but we faced the
+northern breezes full of invigorating ozone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+Tangier, the wildest, quaintest, most savage spot on the face of the
+globe, was to me the most enchanting. Our impressions take their
+colour from the passing mood; we like or loathe a place according to
+the temper in which we view it. I was so utterly and foolishly happy
+in this most Eastern city located in the West that I have loved it
+deeply ever since. After the trying and eventful episodes of the past
+week I had passed into a tranquil haven filled with perfect peace. The
+whole tenor of my life had changed, the feverish excitement was gone,
+no deep anxiety vexed or troubled me, all my cares were transferred to
+stronger shoulders than mine. I could calmly await the issue, content
+to enjoy the moment and forget the past like a bad dream.
+
+It was sufficient to bask in the sunshine, revelling in the free air,
+rejoicing in the sweetness of my nascent love. We were much together,
+Basil and I; we walked together, exploring the recesses of the native
+town, and the ancient citadel, with its memories of British dominion;
+we lingered in the Soko or native market, crowded with wild creatures
+from the far interior; we rode together, for his first care was to
+secure horses, and scoured the country as far as the Marshan and Cape
+Spartel. I sometimes reproached myself with being so happy, while my
+darling Henriette still sorrowfully repined at her past, with little
+hope of better days. But even she brightened as the days ran on and
+brought no fresh disquiet, while her boy, sweet little Ralph,
+developed in health and strength.
+
+A week passed thus, a week of unbroken quiet, flawless as the
+unchanging blue of a summer sky; not a cloud in sight, not a suspicion
+of coming disturbance and unrest. It could not go on like this for
+ever. To imagine it was to fall asleep in a fool's paradise, lulled
+into false serenity by the absence of portents so often shrouded and
+unseen until they break upon us.
+
+One day a cablegram reached me from Philpotts. She had arrived at
+Marseilles on her return voyage from Tripoli, and was anxious that I
+should know without delay that we had not shaken off Lord Blackadder.
+They had recrossed the Mediterranean together in the same ship, the
+_Oasis_.
+
+"So far all well," she said, "but am watched closely, will certainly
+follow me--send instructions--better not join you at present."
+
+This message fell on us two poor women like a bolt from the blue.
+Basil looked serious for a moment, but then laughed scornfully.
+
+"His lordship can do us no harm. There is not the slightest fear. He
+may bluster and bully as much as he pleases, or rather, as far as he
+is permitted to go. We will place ourselves under the protection of
+the Moorish bashaw. I always intended that."
+
+"Not seriously?"
+
+"Indeed, yes; I have already consulted our Minister. Sir Arthur is an
+old friend of mine, and he has advised me, privately, of course, and
+unofficially, to be on our guard. He can do nothing for us, but he
+will not act against us. If Lord Blackadder should turn up here, and
+sooner or later he will, most assuredly he will not assist him. He
+promises that. At the same time he can give you no protection. We must
+take care of ourselves."
+
+"You believe that Lord Blackadder will find his way to Tangier?"
+
+"Most certainly. He has Philpotts under his hand, but he would not
+trust only to her. Diligent inquiry at Marseilles would be sure to
+reveal our departure for Gibraltar. He will follow with his men, they
+are well-trained detectives, and it will be mere child's play for them
+to track us to Tangier. You may look for them here any day. We must be
+ready for them at all points."
+
+"There is no saying what Ralph Blackadder may not attempt."
+
+"Indeed, yes, he is equal to anything, guile of course, treachery,
+cunning, stratagem, absolute violence if the opportunity offers. It is
+of the utmost importance not to play into his hands, not to give him
+the smallest chance. The child must be watched continually in the
+house, awake and asleep, wherever he goes and whatever he does."
+
+"Then I think Henriette must be warned not to wander about the town
+and on the sands in the way she's been doing with Victorine and the
+child, all of them on donkey back. I don't think it's at all safe."
+
+But when I cautioned her she was not particularly pleased. Was she to
+have no fresh air, no change of scene? I grudged her the smallest
+pleasure, while I was racing up and down flirting and philandering
+with Basil Annesley all day and every day; she was to sit indoors,
+bored to extinction and suffering torments in the unbearable heat.
+
+Basil and I agreed that it was cruel to restrict her movements even
+with such a good excuse, and had she been willing to accept the
+irksome conditions, which she certainly was not. We arranged a
+surveillance, therefore, unknown to her. The Colonel, his man, or
+myself invariably accompanied her or followed her within eyeshot; and
+we hired two or three stalwart Moors, who were always to be near
+enough to render help if required.
+
+Then came confirmations of our worst fears. L'Echelle, who had been
+unaccountably absent one morning, returned about midday with news from
+the port. Lord Blackadder and his two henchmen had just landed from
+the _José Pielago_, the steamer that runs regularly between Cadiz and
+Algeçiras, Gibraltar, and Tangier. He had seen them in the
+custom-house, fighting their way through the crowd of ragged Jew
+porters, the Moorish egg merchants, and dealers in luscious fruit.
+They had mounted donkeys, the only means of conveyance in a town with
+no wheeled vehicles; and l'Echelle made us laugh at the sorry picture
+presented by the indignant peer, with his legs dangling down on each
+side of the red leather saddle. Their baggage was also piled on
+donkeys, and the whole procession, familiar enough in the narrow
+streets of Tangier, climbed the hill to the Soko, and made for the
+Shereef Hotel, reputed one of the best in Tangier, and lying outside
+the walls in the immediate neighbourhood of the British Legation.
+
+L'Echelle, who seems an honest, loyal fellow, thought he would serve
+us best by marking them down, and, if possible, renewing his
+acquaintance with the detectives, one or both of whom he knew. After
+hanging about the outside of the hotel, he entered the garden boldly
+and went up to the shady trellised verandah where they were seated
+together, smoking and refreshing themselves after their journey.
+
+L'Echelle was well received. Falfani, my friend of the Calais train,
+believed he had suborned him at Aix, and now hailed his appearance
+with much satisfaction. L'Echelle might again be most useful; at
+least, he could lead them to us, and he wisely decided to let Falfani
+know where we were to be found in Tangier. The fact would surely be
+discovered without him. It was better, he thought, to appear frank,
+and, by instilling confidence, learn all there was to know of their
+plans and movements.
+
+My lord had gone to the Legation, Falfani told him at once,
+bombastically boasting that everything would yield before him. He had
+but to express his wishes, and there would be an end of the hunt. But
+my lord came back in a furious rage, and, regardless of l'Echelle's--a
+comparative stranger's--presence, burst forth into passionate
+complaint against the Minister. He would teach Sir Arthur to show
+proper respect to a peer of the realm; he would cable at once to the
+Foreign Office and insist on this second-rate diplomatist's recall.
+The upshot of it all was that his lordship's demand for help had been
+refused pointblank, and no doubt, after what the Colonel had heard, in
+rather abrupt, outspoken terms.
+
+All this and more l'Echelle brought back to us at the Atlas Hotel. He
+told us at length of the outrageous language Lord Blackadder had used,
+of his horrible threats, how he would leave no stone unturned to
+recover his son and heir; how he would bribe the bashaw, buy the
+Moorish officials, a notoriously venal crew; how he would dog our
+footsteps everywhere, set traps for us, fall upon us unawares; and in
+the last extreme he would attack the hotel and forcibly carry off his
+property. As the fitting end of his violent declamation, Ralph
+Blackadder had left the hotel hurriedly, calling upon his creatures to
+follow him, bent, as it seemed, to perpetrate some mad act.
+
+I confess I shuddered at the thought of this reckless, unprincipled
+man loose about Tangier, vowing vengeance, and resolved to go to any
+lengths to secure it. My dear Basil strove hard to console me with
+brave words inspired by his sturdy, self-reliant spirit.
+
+But even he quailed at the sudden shock that fell upon us at the very
+same moment. Where was Henriette?
+
+After the first excitement, we desired to pass on the news brought by
+l'Echelle to her, and renew our entreaties for extreme caution in her
+comings and goings; and with much misgiving we learnt that she was not
+in the hotel. She had gone out with Victorine and Ralph as usual, but
+unattended by any of us. One Moor, Achmet El Mansur, was with her, we
+were told, but we did not trust him entirely. It had been l'Echelle's
+turn to accompany her, but he had been diverted from his duty by the
+pressing necessity of following Lord Blackadder. Basil and I had
+ridden out quite early on a long expedition, from which we only
+returned when l'Echelle did.
+
+We dismissed our fears, hoping they were groundless, and looking to be
+quite reassured presently when she came back at the luncheon hour.
+
+But one o'clock came, and two, and two-thirty, but not a sign of
+Henriette, nor a word in explanation of her absence.
+
+Could she have fallen a victim to the machinations of Lord Blackadder?
+Was the boy captured and she detained while he was spirited away?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+It was impossible to disassociate Lord Blackadder from Lady
+Henriette's mysterious disappearance, and yet we could hardly believe
+that he could have so quickly accomplished his purpose. We doubted the
+more when the man turned up in person at the Atlas Hotel and had the
+effrontery to ask for her.
+
+Basil went out to him in the outer hall, and, as I listened from
+within, I immediately heard high words. It was like a spark applied to
+tinder; a fierce quarrel blazed up instantly between them.
+
+"How dare you show yourself here?" began Basil Annesley.
+
+"Who are you to prevent me? I come to demand the restoration of that
+which belongs to me. Take my message to those two ladies and say I
+will have my boy," replied my lord.
+
+"Do not try to impose on me, Lord Blackadder. It is the most impudent
+pretence; you know perfectly well he is not here."
+
+"I will not bandy words with you. Go in, you men, both of you, Tiler
+and Falfani, and seize the child. Force your way in, push that
+blackguard aside!" he roared in a perfect paroxysm of passion.
+
+I could not possibly hold aloof, but called for help from the hotel
+people, and, with them at my back, rushed out to add my protest
+against this intemperate conduct.
+
+A free fight had already begun. The three assailants, Ralph Blackadder
+behind egging them on, had thrown themselves upon Basil, who stood
+sturdily at bay with his back to the wall, daring them to come on, and
+prepared to strike out at the first man who touched him.
+
+"At him! Give it him! Throw him out!" cried Ralph passionately. But
+even as he spoke his voice weakened, he halted abruptly; his hands
+went up into the air, his body swayed to and fro, his strength left
+him completely, and he fell to the ground in sudden and complete
+collapse. When they picked him up, there was froth mixed with blood
+upon his lips, he breathed once or twice heavily, stertorously, and
+then with one long-drawn gasp died in the arms of his two men.
+
+It was an apoplectic seizure, the doctors told us later, brought on by
+excessive nervous irritation of the brain.
+
+Here was a sudden and unexpected _dénouement_, a terribly dramatic end
+to our troubles if we could but clear up the horrible uncertainty
+remaining.
+
+What had become of my sister and little Ralph?
+
+While the servants of the hotel attended to the stricken man, Basil
+Annesley plied the detectives with eager questions. He urged them to
+tell all they knew; it should be made worth their while; they no
+longer owed allegiance to their late employer. He entreated them to
+withhold nothing. Where and how had Lord Blackadder met Henriette?
+What had he done with her? Where was she now?
+
+We could get nothing out of these men; they refused to answer our
+questions from sheer mulish obstinacy, as we thought at first, but we
+saw at length that they did not understand us. What were we driving
+at? They assured us they had seen no lady, nor had the unfortunate
+peer accosted any one, or interfered with any one on his way between
+the two hotels. He had come straight from the Villa Shereef to the
+Hotel Atlas, racing down at a run, pausing nowhere, addressing no one
+on the road.
+
+If not Lord Blackadder, what then? What could have happened to
+Henriette? Tangier was a wild place enough, but who would interfere
+with an English woman in broad daylight accompanied by her servant, by
+an escort, her attendant Moorish guide? Full of anxiety, Basil called
+for a horse, and was about to ride off to institute a hue and cry,
+when my sister appeared in person upon the scene.
+
+"Getting anxious about me?" she asked, with careless, almost childish
+gaiety. "I am awfully late, but I have had such an extraordinary
+adventure. Why, how serious you look! Not on my account, surely?"
+
+I took her aside, and in a few words told her of the terrible
+catastrophe that had just occurred, and for a time she was silent and
+seemed quite overcome.
+
+"It's too shocking, of course, to happen in this awful way. But
+really, I cannot be very sorry except for one thing--that now he will
+never know."
+
+"Know what, Henriette? Have you taken leave of your senses?"
+
+"Know that I have discovered the whole plot of which I was the
+victim. My dear, I have found Susan Bruel, and she has made a full
+confession. They were bribed to go away, and they have been here
+hiding in Tangier."
+
+"Go on, go on. Tell me, please, all about it."
+
+"You must know we went out, the three of us, on our donkeys, and the
+fancy seized me to explore some of the dark, narrow streets where the
+houses all but join overhead. I got quite frightened at last. I was
+nearly suffocated for want of air. I could not even see the sky, and
+at last desired Achmet to get me out into the open, anywhere. After
+one or two sharp turns, we emerged upon a sort of plateau or terrace
+high above the sea, and in full view of it.
+
+"There was a small hotel in front of it, and above the door was the
+name of the proprietor, would you believe it, Domenico Bruel!
+
+"It was the name of Susan's husband, and no doubt Susan was there. I
+could not quite make up my mind how I should act. I thought of sending
+Achmet back for you or the Colonel, but I could not bear parting with
+him. Then, while I was still hesitating, Susan herself came out and
+rushed across to where I was, with her hands outstretched and fairly
+beside herself, laughing and crying by turns.
+
+"'Oh, my lady! It _is_ you, then? What shall I say to you? How can I
+tell you?' she began, quite hysterically. 'We behaved most
+disgracefully, most wickedly, but indeed it was Domenico's doing. He
+insisted they offered us such a large sum, enough to make us rich for
+life, and so we consented to come away here. I have never had one
+happy moment since. Can you forgive me?'
+
+"All this she poured forth, and much more of the same sort. I could
+see she was truly sorry, and that it had not been entirely her fault.
+Besides, I began to hope already that, how we had found her, we might
+get the case reopened, and that wicked order reversed. It will be put
+right now, now that Ralph can no longer oppose it."
+
+I bowed my head silently, thankful and deeply impressed with the
+strange turn taken by events and the sudden light let in upon the
+darkness that had surrounded us.
+
+The rest of the adventures that began in the sleeping-car between
+Calais and Basle, and came abruptly to an end on the North African
+shore, may soon be told. Our first act was to return to England at
+the very earliest opportunity, and we embarked that evening on a
+Forwood steamer direct for London, which port we reached in less than
+five days.
+
+Town was empty, and we did not linger there. Nothing could be done in
+the Courts, as it was the legal vacation, but Henriette's solicitors
+arranged to send out a commission to take the Bruels' evidence at
+Tangier, and to bring the matter before The President at the earliest
+opportunity.
+
+As for ourselves, I persuaded Henriette to take a cottage at Marlow on
+the Upper Thames, where Colonel Annesley was a constant guest, and
+Charlie Forrester. We four passed many idle halcyon days on the quiet
+river, far from the noise of trains, and content to leave Bradshaw in
+the bottom of the travelling-bag, where it had been thrown at the end
+of our feverish wanderings.
+
+Once again we had recourse to it, however, when we started on our
+honeymoon, Basil and I. Once more we found ourselves at Calais with
+Philpotts, but no encumbrances, bound on a second, a far happier, and
+much less eventful journey by the Engadine express.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+L.C. Page & Company's
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+of which are in full color                             $2.00
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+
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+fiction worked out to a thoroughly delightful and satisfying climax.
+
+
+Prisoners of Fortune. A TALE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY
+COLONY. BY RUEL PERLEY SMITH, author of "The Rival
+Campers," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece
+by Frank T. Merrill                                    $1.50
+
+The period of Mr. Smith's story is the beginning of the eighteenth
+century, when the shores of the American colonies were harassed and
+the seas patrolled by pirates and buccaneers. These robbed and
+spoiled, and often seized and put to death, the sailors and fishers
+and other humbler folk, while their leaders claimed friendship alike
+with Southern planters and New England merchants,--with whom it is
+said they frequently divided their spoils.
+
+The times were stern and the colonists were hardy, but they loved as
+truly and tenderly as in more peaceful days. Thus, while the hero's
+adventures with pirates and his search for their hidden treasure is a
+record of desperate encounters and daring deeds, his love-story and
+his winning of sweet Mary Vane is in delightful contrast.
+
+
+The Rome Express. BY MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, author of "The
+Passenger from Calais," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece
+by A.O. Scott                                          $1.25
+
+A mysterious murder on a flying express train, a wily Italian, a
+charming woman caught in the meshes of circumstantial evidence, a
+chivalrous Englishman, and a police force with a keen nose for the
+wrong clue, are the ingredients from which Major Griffiths has
+concocted a clever, up-to-date detective story. The book is bright and
+spirited, with rapid action, and consistent development which brings
+the story to a logical and dramatic ending.
+
+
+The Morning Glory Club. BY GEORGE A. KYLE.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece
+by A.O. Scott                                          $1.25
+
+The doings of the Morning Glory Club will furnish genuine amusement to
+the reader. Originally formed to "elevate" the village, it quickly
+develops into an exchange for town gossip. It has a saving grace,
+however, in the person of motherly Mrs. Stout, the uncultured but
+sweet-natured and pure-minded village philosopher, who pours the oil
+of her saneness and charity on the troubled waters of discussion and
+condemnation.
+
+It is a series of clear and interesting pictures of the humor of
+village life.
+
+
+The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt, Detective. NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION.
+BY ARTHUR MORRISON, author of "The Green Diamond," "The Red Triangle,"
+etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with six full-page drawings
+by W. Kirkpatrick                                      $1.50
+
+The success of Mr. Morrison's recent books, "The Green Diamond" and
+"The Red Triangle," has led to an imperative demand for the reissue of
+"The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt," which has been out of print for a
+number of years.
+
+It will be remembered that Martin Hewitt is the detective in "The Red
+Triangle," of whom the _New York Tribune_ said: "Better than Sherlock
+Holmes." His adventures in the London slums were of such a nature that
+the _Philadelphia North American_ said: "The reader who has a grain of
+fancy or imagination may be defied to lay this book down once he has
+begun it until the last word is reached."
+
+
+Mystery Island. By EDWARD H. HURST.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece          $1.50
+
+A hunting camp on a swampy island in the Florida Everglades furnishes
+the background for this present-day tale.
+
+By the murder of one of their number, the secret of egress from the
+island is lost, and the campers find themselves marooned.
+
+Cut off from civilization, conventional veneer soon wears away. Love,
+hate, and revenge spring up, and after the sterner passions have had
+their sway the man and the woman are left alone to fulfil their own
+destiny.
+
+While there is much that is unusual in the plot and its development,
+Mr. Hurst has handled his subject with fine delicacy, and the tale of
+their love on the beautiful little island is told with deep sympathy
+and feeling.
+
+
+The Flying Cloud. By MORLEY ROBERTS, author of "The
+Promotion of the Admiral," "Rachel Marr," "The Idlers," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece          $1.50
+
+Mr. Roberts's new book is much more than a ripping good sea story such
+as might be expected from the author of "The Promotion of the
+Admiral." In "The Flying Cloud" the waters and the winds are gods
+personified. Their every mood and phase are described in words of
+telling force. There is no world but the waste of waters.
+
+Mr. Roberts glories and exults in the mystery, the passion, the
+strength of the elements, as did the Viking chroniclers of old. He
+understands them and loves them and interprets them as no other writer
+has heretofore done. The book is too big for conventional phrases. It
+needs Mr. Roberts's own richness of imagery and masterly expression to
+describe adequately the word-pictures in this epic of wind and waves.
+
+
+
+
+Selections from
+L.C. Page and Company's
+List of Fiction
+
+WORKS OF
+ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS
+
+_Each one vol., library 12mo, cloth decorative         $1.50_
+
+
+The Flight of Georgiana
+
+A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF THE YOUNG PRETENDER. Illustrated by
+H.C. Edwards.
+
+"A love-story in the highest degree, a dashing story, and a remarkably
+well finished piece of work."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Bright Face of Danger
+
+Being an account of some adventures of Henri de Launay, son of the
+Sieur de la Tournoire. Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.
+
+"Mr. Stephens has fairly outdone himself. We thank him heartily. The
+story is nothing if not spirited and entertaining, rational and
+convincing."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+The Mystery of Murray Davenport (40th thousand.)
+
+"This is easily the best thing that Mr. Stephens has yet done. Those
+familiar with his other novels can best judge the measure of this
+praise, which is generous."--_Buffalo News._
+
+
+Captain Ravenshaw
+
+OR, THE MAID OF CHEAPSIDE. (52d thousand.) A romance of Elizabethan
+London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and other artists.
+
+Not since the absorbing adventures of D'Artagnan have we had anything
+so good in the blended vein of romance and comedy.
+
+
+The Continental Dragoon
+
+A ROMANCE OF PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE IN 1778. (53d thousand.)
+Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.
+
+A stirring romance of the Revolution, with its scene laid on neutral
+territory.
+
+
+Philip Winwood (70th thousand.)
+
+A Sketch of the Domestic History of an American Captain in the War
+of Independence, embracing events that occurred between and during
+the years 1763 and 1785 in New York and London. Illustrated by
+E.W.D. Hamilton.
+
+
+An Enemy to the King (70th thousand.)
+
+From the "Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de
+la Tournoire." Illustrated by H. De M. Young.
+
+An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing the
+adventures of a young French nobleman at the court of Henry III., and
+on the field with Henry IV.
+
+
+The Road to Paris
+
+A STORY OF ADVENTURE. (35th thousand.)
+Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.
+
+An historical romance of the eighteenth century, being an account of
+the life of an American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite ancestry.
+
+
+A Gentleman Player
+
+HIS ADVENTURES ON A SECRET MISSION FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH. (48th
+thousand.)
+Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+The story of a young gentleman who joins Shakespeare's company of
+players, and becomes a friend and protégé of the great poet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS
+
+
+Red Fox
+
+THE STORY OF HIS ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK WILDS, AND OF
+HIS FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF HIS KIND. With fifty
+illustrations, including frontispiece in color and cover design by
+Charles Livingston Bull.
+
+Square quarto, cloth decorative                        $2.00
+
+"Infinitely more wholesome reading than the average tale of sport,
+since it gives a glimpse of the hunt from the point of view of the
+hunted."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+"True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will interest old
+and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know animals and
+those who do not."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+"A brilliant chapter in natural history."--_Philadelphia North
+American._
+
+
+The Kindred of the Wild
+
+A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates and
+many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull.
+
+Square quarto, decorative cover                        $2.00
+
+"Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal stories that
+has appeared; well named and well done."--_John Burroughs._
+
+
+The Watchers of the Trails
+
+A companion volume to "The Kindred of the Wild." With forty-eight
+full-page plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles
+Livingston Bull.
+
+Square quarto, decorative cover                        $2.00
+
+"These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust in
+their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. Among
+the many writers about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable
+place.--_The Outlook_.
+
+"This is a book full of delight. An additional charm lies in Mr.
+Bull's faithful and graphic illustrations, which in fashion all their
+own tell the story of the wild life, illuminating and supplementing
+the pen pictures of the author."--_Literary Digest._
+
+
+The Heart That Knows
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"A novel of singularly effective strength, luminous in literary color,
+rich in its passionate, yet tender drama."--_New York Globe._
+
+
+Earth's Enigmas
+
+A new edition of Mr. Roberts's first volume of fiction, published in
+1892, and out of print for several years, with the addition of three
+new stories, and ten illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull. Library
+12mo, cloth, decorative cover                          $1.50
+
+"It will rank high among collections of short stories. In 'Earth's
+Enigmas' is a wider range of subject than in the 'Kindred of the
+Wild.'"--_Review from advance sheets of the illustrated edition by
+Tiffany Blake in the Chicago Evening Post._
+
+
+Barbara Ladd
+
+With four illustrations by Frank Verbeck.
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"From the opening chapter to the final page Mr. Roberts lures us on by
+his rapt devotion to the changing aspects of Nature and by his keen
+and sympathetic analysis of human character."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+Cameron of Lochiel
+
+Translated from the French of Philippe Aubert de Gaspé, with
+frontispiece in color by H.C. Edwards.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"Professor Roberts deserves the thanks of his reader for giving a
+wider audience an opportunity to enjoy this striking bit of French
+Canadian literature."--_Brooklyn Eagle._
+
+"It is not often in these days of sensational and philosophical novels
+that one picks up a book that so touches the heart."--_Boston
+Transcript._
+
+
+The Prisoner of Mademoiselle
+With frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, gilt top               $1.50
+
+A tale of Acadia,--a land which is the author's heart's delight,--of a
+valiant young lieutenant and a winsome maiden, who first captures and
+then captivates.
+
+"This is the kind of a story that makes one grow younger, more
+innocent, more light-hearted. Its literary quality is impeccable. It
+is not every day that such a heroine blossoms into even temporary
+existence, and the very name of the story bears a breath of
+charm."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Heart of the Ancient Wood
+With six illustrations by James L. Weston.
+
+Library 12mo, decorative cover                         $1.50
+
+"One of the most fascinating novels of recent days."--_Boston
+Journal._
+
+"A classic twentieth-century romance."--_New York Commercial
+Advertiser._
+
+
+The Forge in the Forest
+
+Being the Narrative of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, Seigneur de
+Briart, and how he crossed the Black Abbé, and of his adventures in a
+strange fellowship. Illustrated by Henry Sandham, R.C.A.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top                          $1.50
+
+A story of pure love and heroic adventure.
+
+
+By the Marshes of Minas
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated             $1.50
+
+Most of these romances are in the author's lighter and more playful
+vein; each is a unit of absorbing interest and exquisite workmanship.
+
+
+A Sister to Evangeline
+
+Being the Story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into exile
+with the villagers of Grand Pré.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated             $1.50
+
+Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep passion, and
+searching analysis characterize this strong novel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+LILIAN BELL
+
+
+Carolina Lee
+With a frontispiece in color from an oil painting by Dora Wheeler
+Keith.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"A Christian Science novel, full of action, alive with incident and
+brisk with pithy dialogue and humor."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing
+as a breeze that blows through a pine forest."--_Albany Times-Union._
+
+
+Hope Loring
+Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"Tall, slender, and athletic, fragile-looking, yet with nerves and
+sinews of steel under the velvet flesh, frank as a boy and tender and
+beautiful as a woman, free and independent, yet not bold--such is
+'Hope Loring,' by long odds the subtlest study that has yet been made
+of the American girl."--_Dorothy Dix, in the New York American._
+
+
+Abroad with the Jimmies
+With a portrait, in duogravure, of the author.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"Full of ozone, of snap, of ginger, of swing and momentum."--_Chicago
+Evening Post._
+
+
+At Home with the Jardines
+A companion volume to "Abroad with the Jimmies."
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"Bits of gay humor, sunny, whimsical philosophy, and keen indubitable
+insight into the less evident aspects and workings of pure human
+nature, with a slender thread of a cleverly extraneous love story,
+keep the interest of the reader fresh."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Interference of Patricia
+With a frontispiece from drawing by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                    $1.25
+
+"There is life and action and brilliancy and dash and cleverness and a
+keen appreciation of business ways in this story."--_Grand Rapids
+Herald_.
+
+"A story full of keen and flashing satire."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+A Book of Girls
+With a frontispiece.
+
+Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                    $1.25
+
+"The stories are all eventful and have effective humor."--_New York
+Sun._
+
+"Lilian Bell surely understands girls, for she depicts all the
+variations of girl nature so charmingly."--_Chicago Journal._
+
+_The above two volumes boxed in special holiday dress,
+ per set,                                              $2.50_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+ALICE MacGOWAN AND GRACE MacGOWAN COOKE
+
+
+Return
+
+A STORY OF THE SEA ISLANDS IN 1739. With six illustrations by
+C.D. Williams.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+"So rich in color is this story, so crowded with figures, it seems
+like a bit of old Italian wall painting, a piece of modern tapestry,
+rather than a modern fabric woven deftly from the threads of fact and
+fancy gathered up in this new and essentially practical country, and
+therein lies its distinctive value and excellence."--_N.Y. Sun._
+
+"At once tender, thrilling, picturesque, philosophical, and dramatic.
+One of the most delightful romances we have had in many a
+day."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Grapple
+With frontispiece in color by Arthur W. Brown.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"The movement of the tale is swift and dramatic. The story is so
+original, so strong, and so finely told that it deserves a large and
+thoughtful public. It is a book to read with both enjoyment and
+enlightenment."--_N.Y. Times Saturday Review of Books._
+
+
+The Last Word
+Illustrated with seven portraits of the heroine.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"When one receives full measure to overflowing of delight in a tender,
+charming, and wholly fascinating new piece of fiction, the enthusiasm
+is apt to come uppermost."--_Louisville Post._
+
+
+Huldah
+With illustrations by Fanny Y. Cory.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+Here we have the great-hearted, capable woman of the Texas plains
+dispensing food and genial philosophy to rough-and-ready cowboys. Her
+sympathy takes the form of happy laughter, and her delightfully funny
+phrases amuse the fancy and stick in one's memory.
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+MORLEY ROBERTS
+
+
+Rachel Marr
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"A novel of tremendous force, with a style that is sure, luxuriant,
+compelling, full of color and vital force."--_Elia W. Peattie, in
+Chicago Tribune._
+
+"In atmosphere, if nothing else, the story is absolutely
+perfect."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+Lady Penelope
+With nine illustrations by Arthur W. Brown.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"A fresh and original bit of comedy as amusing as it is
+audacious."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+The Idlers
+With frontispiece in color by John C. Frohn.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"In 'The Idlers' Mr. Morley Roberts does for the smart set of London
+what Mrs. Wharton has done in 'The House of Mirth' for the American
+social class of the same name.... It is a powerful novel, a merciless
+dissection of modern society similar to that which a skilled surgeon
+would make of a pathological case."--_The London Literary World._
+
+"It is as absorbing as the devil. Mr. Roberts gives us the antithesis
+of 'Rachel Marr' in an equally masterful and convincing work."--_The
+New York Sun._
+
+"It is a work of great ethical force."--_Professor Charles G.D.
+Roberts._
+
+
+The Promotion of the Admiral
+
+By MORLEY ROBERTS.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated            $1.50
+
+"If any one writes better sea stories than Mr. Roberts, we don't know
+who it is; and if there is a better sea story of its kind than this it
+would be a joy to have the pleasure of reading it."--_New York Sun._
+
+"There is a hearty laugh in everyone of these stories."--_The
+Reader._
+
+"To read these stories is a tonic for the mind; the stories are gems,
+and for pith and vigor of description they are unequalled."--_N.Y.
+Commercial Advertiser._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+STEPHEN CONRAD
+
+
+The Second Mrs. Jim
+
+By STEPHEN CONRAD. With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery.
+
+Large 16mo, cloth decorative                           $1.00
+
+Here is a character as original and witty as "Mr. Dooley" or "the
+self-made merchant." The realm of humorous fiction is now invaded by
+the stepmother.
+
+"It is an exceptionally clever piece of work."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+"'The Second Mrs. Jim' is worth as many Mrs. Wiggses as could be
+crowded into the Cabbage Patch. The racy humor and cheerfulness and
+wisdom of the book make it wholly delightful."--_Philadelphia Press._
+
+
+Mrs. Jim and Mrs. Jimmie
+With a frontispiece in colors by Arthur W. Brown.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+This book is in a sense a sequel to "The Second Mrs. Jim," since it
+gives further glimpses of that delightful stepmother and her
+philosophy.
+
+"Plenty of fun and humor in this book. Plenty of simple pathos and
+quietly keen depiction of human nature afford contrast, and every
+chapter is worth reading. It is a very human account of life in a
+small country town, and the work should be commended for those
+sterling qualities of heart and naturalness so endearing to
+many."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+ARTHUR MORRISON
+
+
+The Green Diamond
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with six illustrations $1.50
+
+"A detective story of unusual ingenuity and intrigue."--_Brooklyn
+Eagle._
+
+
+The Red Triangle
+
+Being some further chronicles of Martin Hewitt, investigator.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"Better than Sherlock Holmes."--_New York Tribune._
+
+"The reader who has a grain of fancy or imagination may be defied to
+lay this book down, once he has begun it, until the last word has been
+reached."--_Philadelphia North American._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+G. SIDNEY PATERNOSTER
+
+
+The Motor Pirate
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with frontispiece      $1.50
+
+"Its originality, exciting adventures, into which is woven a charming
+love theme, and its undercurrent of fun furnish a dashing detective
+story which a motor-mad world will thoroughly enjoy reading."--_Boston
+Herald._
+
+
+The Cruise of the Motor-Boat Conqueror
+
+Being the Further Adventures of the Motor Pirate.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece
+by Frank T. Merrill                                    $1.50
+
+"As a land pirate Mannering was a marvel of resource, but as a
+sea-going buccaneer he is almost a miracle of devilish ingenuity. His
+exploits are wonderful and plausible, for he avails himself of every
+modern device and applies recent inventions to the accomplishment of
+all his pet schemes."--_Chicago Evening Post._
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+T. JENKINS HAINS
+
+
+The Black Barque
+With five illustrations by W. Herbert Dunton.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+According to a high naval authority, whose name must be withheld, this
+is one of the best sea stories ever offered to the public. "The Black
+Barque" is a story of slavery and piracy upon the high seas about
+1815, and is written with a thorough knowledge of deep-water sailing.
+
+
+The Windjammers
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+"A collection of short sea stories unmatched for interest."--_New York
+Sun._
+
+
+The Voyage of the Arrow
+With six illustrations by H.C. Edwards.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+"A capital story, full of sensation and excitement, and a rollicking
+sea story of the good old-fashioned sort. The reader who begins this
+exciting voyage will sail on at the rate of twelve knots an hour until
+it is finished."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN
+
+
+Miss Frances Baird, Detective
+
+A PASSAGE FROM HER MEMOIRS.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece
+by W.F. Kirkpatrick                                    $1.25
+
+"Miss Baird ravels and unravels circumstantial evidence in her search
+for the murderer in a most bewildering and thoroughly feminine
+fashion.... The story is brimful of excitement, and no little
+ingenuity is displayed in its construction."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+Jarvis of Harvard
+Illustrated by Robert Edwards.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+A strong and well written novel, dealing with the life of a young man
+in a modern college. Studies, athletics, social life, and the outside
+influences surrounding the youth of a college town are clearly
+depicted.
+
+"Mr. Kauffman's treatment of his subject is dignified, restrained,
+sincere, and in admirable good taste throughout."--_New York Mail and
+Express._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Passenger from Calais, by Arthur Griffiths
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSENGER FROM CALAIS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 16339-8.txt or 16339-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/3/16339/
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+
+
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+will be renamed.
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Passenger from Calais by Arthur Griffiths.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
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+
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+    p.quotsig { text-align:right;  margin-right:10%; font-variant:small-caps}
+
+    span.ralign { position: absolute; right: 0; top: auto;}
+
+    .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; text-indent: 0; font-weight: normal; color: gray; font-size: 0.7em; text-align: right;}
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+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Passenger from Calais, by Arthur Griffiths
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Passenger from Calais
+
+Author: Arthur Griffiths
+
+Release Date: July 21, 2005 [EBook #16339]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSENGER FROM CALAIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>Works of<br />
+ARTHUR GRIFFITHS</h3>
+
+
+<table summary="works">
+<tr><td>The Passenger from Calais</td>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;&nbsp;$1.25</td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Rome Express</td>
+<td align="right">1.25</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<p class="center">L.C. PAGE &amp; COMPANY<br />
+New England Building, Boston, Mass.
+</p>
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h1><img src="images/image_01.jpg" alt="Cover Page" width="400" height="426" /></h1>
+<h1>&nbsp;</h1>
+<h1>The Passenger<br />
+  from Calais</h1>
+<h3>By Arthur Griffiths</h3>
+
+<h4>Author of "The Rome Express," etc.</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><img src="images/image_02.jpg" alt="Seal" width="150" height="149" /></p>
+<p class="center">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Boston L.C. Page and
+  Company <br />
+  Publishers</p>
+<p class="center">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="blockfor"><i>First Impression, January, 1906
+    <br />
+  Second Impression, February, 1906
+  <br />
+  Third Impression, February, 1906
+  <br />
+  Fourth Impression, March, 1908</i></p>
+<p class="center">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Colonial Press
+  <i><br />
+C.H. Simonds &amp; Co.
+<br />
+Boston, U.S.A.</i>
+
+</p>
+<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>CHAPTER XXII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXIII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXIV.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>CHAPTER XXV.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXVI.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXVII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXVIII.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXIX.</b></a><br />
+  <br /></li>
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><b>CHAPTER XXX.</b></a><br /></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p class="center">FOREWORD</p>
+
+
+<p class="blockfor"><i> I desire to state that the initial<br />
+ fact upon which I have founded<br />
+
+  this story is within my own experience.<br />
+
+I travelled from Calais to<br />
+
+Basle by the Engadine Express in<br />
+
+the latter end of July, 1902, when<br />
+
+  my wife and myself were the only<br />
+
+passengers. The rest is pure fiction.</i></p>
+
+<p class="blockfor1">A.G.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h4>[<i>Colonel Annesley's Story</i>]</h4>
+
+
+<p>The crossing from Dover to Calais had been rough; a drizzling rain
+fell all the time, and most of the passengers had remained below.
+Strange to say, they were few enough, as I saw on landing. It was a
+Sunday in late July, and there ought to have been a strong stream
+setting towards Central Europe. I hardly expected to find much room in
+the train; not that it mattered, for my place was booked through in
+the Lucerne sleeping-car of the Engadine express.</p>
+
+<p>Room! When I reached the siding where this train de luxe was drawn up,
+I saw that I was not merely the first but the only passenger. Five
+sleeping-cars and a dining-car attached, with the full staff,
+attendants, chef, waiters&mdash;all lay there waiting for me, and me
+alone.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Not very busy?" I said, with a laugh to the conductor.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Parbleu</i>," replied the man, polyglot and cosmopolitan, like most of
+his class, but a Frenchman, or, more likely from his accent, a Swiss.
+"I never saw the like before."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have a compartment to myself, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur may have the whole carriage if he wishes&mdash;the whole five
+carriages. It is but to arrange." His eyes glistened at the prospect
+of something special in this obvious scarcity of coming tips.</p>
+
+<p>"The train will run, I hope? I am anxious to get on."</p>
+
+<p>"But assuredly it will run. Even without monsieur it would run. The
+carriages are wanted at the other end for the return journey. Stay,
+what have we here?"</p>
+
+<p>We stood talking together on the platform, and at some little distance
+from the railway station, the road to which was clear and open all the
+way, so that I could see a little party of four approaching us, and
+distinguish them. Two ladies, an official, probably one of the guards,
+and a porter laden with light luggage.</p>
+
+<p>As they came up I discreetly withdrew to my  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> own compartment, the
+window of which was open, so that I could hear and see all that
+passed.</p>
+
+<p>"Can we have places for Lucerne?" It was asked in an eager, anxious,
+but very sweet voice, and in excellent French.</p>
+
+<p>"Places?" echoed the conductor. "Madame can have fifty."</p>
+
+<p>"What did I tell madame?" put in the official who had escorted her.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want fifty," she replied, pettishly, crossly, "only two. A
+separate compartment for myself and maid; the child can come in with
+us."</p>
+
+<p>Now for the first time I noticed that the maid was carrying a bundle
+in her arms, the nature of which was unmistakable. The way in which
+she swung it to and fro rhythmically was that of a nurse and child.</p>
+
+<p>"If madame prefers, the maid and infant can be accommodated apart,"
+suggested the obliging conductor.</p>
+
+<p>But this did not please her. "No, no, no," she answered with much
+asperity. "I wish them to be with me. I have told you so already; did
+you not hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Parfaitement</i>, as madame pleases. Only,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> as the train is not
+full&mdash;very much the reverse indeed&mdash;only one other passenger, a
+gentleman&mdash;no more&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The news affected her strangely, and in two very different ways. At
+first a look of satisfaction came into her face, but it was quickly
+succeeded by one of nervous apprehension, amounting to positive fear.
+She turned to talk to her maid in English, while the conductor busied
+himself in preparing the tickets.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we to do, Philpotts?" This was said to the maid in English.
+"What if it should be&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, never! We can't turn back. You must face it out now. There is
+nothing to be afraid of, not in that way. I saw him, the gentleman, as
+we came up. He's quite a gentleman, a good-looking military-looking
+man, not at all the other sort&mdash;you know the sort I mean."</p>
+
+<p>Now while I accepted the compliment to myself, I was greatly mystified
+by the allusion to the "other sort of man."</p>
+
+<p>"You think we can go on, that it's safe, even in this empty train? It
+would have been so different in a crowd. We should have passed
+unobserved among a lot of people."</p>
+
+<p>"But then there would have been a lot of  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> people to observe us; some
+one, perhaps, who knew you, some one who might send word."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew who this passenger is. It would make me much easier in
+my mind. It might be possible perhaps to get him on our side if he is
+to go with us, at least to get him to help to take care of our
+treasure until I can hand it over. What a burden it is! It's terribly
+on my mind. I wonder how I could have done it. The mere thought makes
+me shiver. To turn thief! Me, a common thief!"</p>
+
+<p>"Stealing is common enough, and it don't matter greatly, so long as
+you're not found out. And you did it so cleverly too; with such a
+nerve. Not a soul could have equalled you at the business. You might
+have been at it all your life," said the maid, with affectionate
+familiarity, that of a humble performer paying tribute to a great
+artist in crime.</p>
+
+<p>She was a decent, respectable-looking body too, this confederate whom
+I concluded was masquerading as maid. The very opposite of the younger
+woman (about her more directly), a neatly dressed unassuming person,
+short and squat in figure, with a broad, plain, and, to the casual
+observer, honest face, slow in movement and of no doubt sluggish
+temperament, not  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> likely to be moved or distressed by conscience,
+neither at the doing or the memory of evil deeds.</p>
+
+<p>Now the conductor came up and civilly bowed them towards their
+carriage, mine, which they entered at the other end as I left it
+making for the restaurant, not a little interested in what I had
+heard.</p>
+
+<p>Who and what could these two people be with whom I was so strangely
+and unexpectedly thrown? The one was a lady, I could hardly be
+mistaken in that; it was proved in many ways, voice, air, aspect, all
+spoke of birth and breeding, however much she might have fallen away
+from or forfeited her high station.</p>
+
+<p>She might have taken to devious practices, or been forced into them;
+whatever the cause of her present decadence she could not have been
+always the thief she now confessed herself. I had it from her own
+lips, she had acknowledged it with some show of remorse. There must
+surely have been some excuse for her, some overmastering temptation,
+some extreme pressure exercised irresistibly through her emotions, her
+affections, her fears.</p>
+
+<p>What! this fair creature a thief? This beautiful woman, so richly
+endowed by nature, so  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> outwardly worthy of admiration, a despicable
+degraded character within? It was hard to credit it. As I still
+hesitated, puzzled and bewildered, still anxious to give her the
+benefit of the doubt, she came to the door of the buffet where I was
+now seated at lunch, and allowed me to survey her more curiously and
+more at leisure.</p>
+
+<p>"A daughter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinely fair."</p>
+
+<p>The height and slimness of her graceful figure enhanced by the
+tight-fitting tailor-made ulster that fell straight from collar to
+heel; her head well poised, a little thrown back with chin in the air,
+and a proud defiant look in her undeniably handsome face. Fine eyes of
+darkest blue, a well-chiseled nose with delicate, sensitive nostrils,
+a small mouth with firm closely compressed lips, a wealth of glossy
+chestnut hair, gathered into a knot under her tweed travelling cap.</p>
+
+<p>As she faced me, looking straight at me, she conveyed the impression
+of a determined unyielding character, a woman who would do much, dare
+much, who would go her own road if so resolved, undismayed and
+undeterred by any difficulties that might beset her.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Then, to my surprise, although I might have expected it, she came and
+seated herself at a table close to my elbow. She had told her
+companion that she wanted to know more about me, that she would like
+to enlist me in her service, questionable though it might be, and here
+she was evidently about to make the attempt. It was a little
+barefaced, but I admit that I was amused by it, and not at all
+unwilling to measure swords with her. She was presumably an
+adventuress, clever, designing, desirous of turning me round her
+finger, but she was also a pretty woman.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," she began almost at once in English, when the
+waiter had brought her a plate of soup, and she was toying with the
+first spoonful, speaking in a low constrained, almost sullen voice, as
+though it cost her much to break through the <i>convenances</i> in thus
+addressing a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"You will think it strange of me," she went on, "but I am rather
+awkwardly situated, in fact in a position of difficulty, even of
+danger, and I venture to appeal to you as a countryman, an English
+officer."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that?" I asked, quickly concluding that my light
+baggage had been  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> subjected to scrutiny, and wondering what subterfuge
+she would adopt to explain it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is easy to see that. Gentlemen of your cloth are as easily
+recognizable as if your names were printed on your back."</p>
+
+<p>"And as they are generally upon our travelling belongings." I looked
+at her steadily with a light laugh, and a crimson flush came on her
+face. However hardened a character, she had preserved the faculty of
+blushing readily and deeply, the natural adjunct of a cream-like
+complexion.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me introduce myself in full," I said, pitying her obvious
+confusion; and I handed her my card, which she took with a shamefaced
+air, rather foreign to her general demeanour.</p>
+
+<p>"Lieut.-Colonel Basil Annesley, Mars and Neptune Club," she read
+aloud. "What was your regiment?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Princess Ulrica Rifles, but I left it on promotion. I am
+unattached for the moment, and waiting for re&euml;mployment."</p>
+
+<p>"Your own master then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Practically, until I am called upon to serve. I hope to get a staff
+appointment. Meanwhile I am loafing about Europe."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you go beyond Lucerne?"</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Across the St. Gothard certainly, and as far as Como, perhaps beyond.
+And you? Am I right in supposing we are to be fellow travellers by the
+Engadine express?" I went on by way of saying something. "To Lucerne
+or further?"</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Probably." The answer was given with great hesitation. "If I go by
+this train at all, that is to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any doubts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. To tell you the truth, I dread the journey. I have been
+doing so ever since&mdash;since I felt it must be made. Now I find it ever
+so much worse than I expected."</p>
+
+<p>"Why is that, if I may ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"You see, I am travelling alone, practically alone that is to say,
+with only my maid."</p>
+
+<p>"And your child," I added rather casually, with no second thought, and
+I was puzzled to understand why the chance phrase evoked another vivid
+blush.</p>
+
+<p>"The child! Oh, yes, the child," and I was struck that she did not say
+"my" child, but laid rather a marked stress on the definite article.</p>
+
+<p>"That of course increases your responsibility, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> " I hazarded, and she
+seized the suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so. You see how I am placed. The idea of going all that way in
+an empty train quite terrifies me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why it should."</p>
+
+<p>"But just think. There will be no one in it, no one but ourselves. We
+two lone women and you, single-handed. Suppose the five attendants and
+the others were to combine against us? They might rob and murder us."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come, come. You must not let foolish fears get the better of your
+common sense. Why should they want to make us their victims? I believe
+they are decent, respectable men, the employes of a great company,
+carefully selected. At any rate, I am not worth robbing, are you? Have
+you any special reason for fearing thieves? Ladies are perhaps a
+little too reckless in carrying their valuables about with them. Your
+jewel-case may be exceptionally well lined."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but it is not; quite the contrary," she cried with almost
+hysterical alacrity. "I have nothing to tempt them. And yet something
+dreadful might happen; I feel we are quite at their mercy."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"I don't. I tell you frankly that I think you are grossly exaggerating
+the situation. But if you feel like that, why not wait? Wait over for
+another train, I mean?"</p>
+
+<p>I am free to confess that, although my curiosity had been aroused, I
+would much rather have washed my hands of her, and left her and her
+belongings, especially the more compromising part, the mysterious
+treasure, behind at Calais.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there another train soon?" she inquired nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly&mdash;by Boulogne. It connects with the train from Victoria at
+2.20 and the boat from Folkestone. You need only run as far as
+Boulogne with this Engadine train, and wait there till it starts. I
+think about 6 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>"Will that not lose time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly you will be two hours later at Basle, and you may lose
+the connection with Lucerne and the St. Gothard if you want to get on
+without delay. To Naples I think you said?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say Naples. You said you were going to Naples," she replied
+stiffly. "I did not mention my ultimate destination."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not. I have dreamt it. But I do  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> not presume to inquire where
+you are going, and I myself am certainly not bound for Naples. But if
+I can be of no further use to you I will make my bow. It is time for
+me to get back to the train, and for my part I don't in the least want
+to lose the Engadine express."</p>
+
+<p>She got up too, and walked out of the buffet by my side.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall go on, at any rate as far as Boulogne," she volunteered,
+without my asking the question; and we got into our car together, she
+entering her compartment and I mine. I heard her door bang, but I kept
+mine still open.</p>
+
+<p>I smoked many cigarettes pondering over the curious episode and my new
+acquaintance. How was I to class her? A young man would have sworn she
+was perfectly straight, that there could be no guile in this
+sweet-faced, gentle, well-mannered woman; and I, with my greater
+experience of life and the sex, was much tempted to do the same. It
+was against the grain to condemn her as all bad, a depredator, a woman
+with perverted moral sense who broke the law and did evil things.</p>
+
+<p>But what else could I conclude from the words I had heard drop from
+her own lips,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> strengthened and confirmed as they were by the
+incriminating language of her companion?</p>
+
+<p>"Bother the woman and her dark blue eyes. I wish I'd never come across
+her. A fine thing, truly, to fall in love with a thief. I hope to
+heaven she will really leave the train at Boulogne; we ought to be
+getting near there by now."</p>
+
+<p>I had travelled the road often enough to know it by heart, and I
+recognized our near approach only to realize that the train did not
+mean to stop. I turned over the leaves of Bradshaw and saw I had been
+mistaken; the train skirted Boulogne and never entered the station.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that settles it for the present, anyhow. If she still wants to
+leave the train she must wait now until Amiens. That ought to suit her
+just as well."</p>
+
+<p>But it would not; at least, she lost no time in expressing her
+disappointment at not being able to alight at Boulogne.</p>
+
+<p>We had hardly passed the place when her maid's (or companion's) square
+figure filled the open doorway of my compartment, and in her strong
+deep voice she addressed a brief summons to me brusquely and
+peremptorily:</p>
+
+<p>"My lady wishes to speak to you."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"And pray what does 'my lady' want with me?" I replied carelessly,
+using the expression as a title of rank.</p>
+
+<p>"She is not 'my lady,' but 'my' lady, my mistress, and simply Mrs.
+Blair." The correction and information were vouchsafed with cold
+self-possession. "Are you coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't really see why I should," I said, not too civilly. "Why
+should I be at her beck and call? If she had been in any trouble, any
+serious trouble, such as she anticipated when talking to me at the
+buffet, and a prey to imaginary alarms since become real, I should
+have been ready to serve her or any woman in distress, but nothing of
+this could have happened in the short hour's run so far."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were a gentleman," was the scornful rejoinder. "A nice
+sort of gentleman, indeed, to sit there like a stock or a stone when a
+lady sends for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"A lady!" There was enough sarcasm in my tone to bring a flush upon
+her impassive face, a fierce gleam of anger in her stolid eyes; and
+when I added, "A fine sort of lady!" I thought she would have struck
+me. But she did no more than hiss an insolent gibe.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"You call yourself an officer, a colonel? I call you a bounder, a
+common cad."</p>
+
+<p>"Be off!" I was goaded into crying, angrily. "Get away with you; I
+want to have nothing more to say to you or your mistress. I know what
+you are and what you have been doing, and I prefer to wash my hands of
+you both. You're not the kind of people I like to deal with or wish to
+know."</p>
+
+<p>She stared at me open-mouthed, her hands clenched, her eyes half out
+of her head. Her face had gone deadly white, and I thought she would
+have fallen there where she stood, a prey to impotent rage.</p>
+
+<p>Now came a sudden change of scene. The lady, Mrs. Blair, as I had just
+heard her called, appeared behind, her taller figure towering above
+the maid's, her face in full view, vexed with varying acute emotions,
+rage, grief, and terror combined.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"What's all this?" she cried in great agitation. "Wait, do not speak,
+Philpotts, leave him to me.... Do you go back to our place this
+instant; we cannot be away together, you know that; <i>it</i> must not be
+left alone, one of us must be on guard over it. Hurry, hurry, I never
+feel that <i>it</i> is safe out of our sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, sir," Mrs. Blair turned on me fiercely, "will you be so good as
+to explain how I find you quarrelling with my maid, permitting
+yourself to cast aspersions, to make imputations upon two unprotected
+women?"</p>
+
+<p>"How much have you overheard?" I asked, feeling very small already. My
+self-reproach was aroused even before I quailed under the withering
+contempt of her tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Enough to expect ample apology. How dare you, how dare you say such
+things? What you may imagine, what unworthy idea you may have formed,
+is beyond me to guess, but  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> you can know nothing. You can have no real
+reason for condemning me."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me admit that, and leave the matter there," I pleaded. I could
+not bring myself to tell her that she was self-condemned, that she was
+the principal witness against herself. It would have been too cruel,
+ungenerous, to take an unfair advantage. Why should I constitute
+myself her judge?</p>
+
+<p>She looked at me very keenly, her eyes piercing me through and
+through. I felt that she was penetrating my inmost thoughts and
+turning me inside out.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not leave it at that. I insist upon your speaking plainly. I
+must know what is in your mind."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I refuse, distinctly, positively, categorically; if I deny
+your contention, and protest that I have nothing to tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not believe you. Come, please, let there be no more evasion.
+I must have it out. I shall stay here until you tell me what you think
+of me, and why."</p>
+
+<p>She seated herself by my side in the narrow velvet seat of the small
+compartment, so close that the folds of her tweed skirt (she had
+removed her ulster) touched and rubbed against <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span>  me. I was invaded by
+the sweet savour of her gracious presence (she used some delightful
+scent, <i>violette ideale</i>, I believe), by putting forth my hand a few
+inches I might have taken hers in mine. She fixed her eyes on me with
+an intent unvarying gaze that under other conditions would have been
+intoxicating, but was now no more than disquieting and embarrassing.</p>
+
+<p>As I was still tongue-tied, she returned to her point with resolute
+insistence.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Colonel Annesley, how long is this to go on? I want and will
+have an explanation. Why have you formed such a bad opinion of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know I have done so?" I tried to fence and fight with her,
+but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot be mistaken. I myself heard you tell my maid that you wished
+to have nothing to say to us, that we were not your sort. Well! why is
+that? How do I differ from the rest of&mdash;your world, let us call it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You do not, as far as I can see. At least you ought to hold your own
+anywhere, in any society, the very best."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet I'm not 'your sort.' Am I a humbug, an impostor, an
+adventuress, a puppet  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> and play-actress? Or is it that I have
+forfeited my right, my rank of gentlewoman, my position in the world,
+your world?"</p>
+
+<p>I was silent, moodily, obstinately silent. She had hit the blot, and
+could put but one interpretation upon it. I saw she guessed I knew
+something. Not how much, perhaps, but something to her discredit. She
+still was not satisfied; she would penetrate my reserve, overcome my
+reticence, have it out of me willy nilly, whether I would or no.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot surely refuse me? I have my reasons for desiring to know
+the very worst."</p>
+
+<p>"Why drive me to that?" I schooled myself to seem hard and
+uncompromising. I felt I was weakening under the subtle charm of her
+presence, and the pretty pleading of her violet eyes; but I was still
+resolute not to give way.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will only tell me why you think such evil I may be able to
+justify myself, or at least explain away appearances that are against
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"You admit there are such appearances? Remember, I never said so."</p>
+
+<p>"Then on what do you condemn me? You do condemn me, I am certain of
+it," she  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> insisted, seeing my gesture of negation. "Are you treating
+me fairly, chivalrously, as a gentleman and a man of honour should?
+How can you reconcile it to your conscience?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some people talk very lightly of conscience, or use it when it is an
+empty meaningless word," I said severely.</p>
+
+<p>"You imply that I have no conscience, or that I should feel the
+qualms, the prickings of conscience?"</p>
+
+<p>"After what you've done, yes," I blurted out.</p>
+
+<p>"What have I done? What do you know of it, or what led me to do it?
+How dare you judge me without knowing the facts, without a shadow of
+proof?" She sprang to her feet and passed to the door, where she
+turned, as it were, at bay.</p>
+
+<p>"I have the very best proof, from your own lips. I heard you and your
+maid talking together at Calais."</p>
+
+<p>"A listener, Colonel Annesley? Faugh!"</p>
+
+<p>"It was forced on me. You stood under my window there." I defended
+myself indignantly. "I wish to heaven I had never heard. I did not
+want to know; your secrets are your own affair."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"And my actions, I presume?" she put in with superb indifference.</p>
+
+<p>"And their consequences, madam," but the shot failed rather of effect.
+She merely smiled and shook her head recklessly, contemptuously. Was
+she so old a hand, so hardened in crime, that the fears of detection,
+arrest, reprisals, the law and its penalties had no effect upon her?
+Undoubtedly at Calais she was afraid; some misgiving, some haunting
+terror possessed her. Now, when standing before me fully confessed for
+what she was, and practically at my mercy, she could laugh with cool
+and unabashed levity and make little of the whole affair.</p>
+
+<p>If I had hoped that I had done with her now, when the murder was out,
+I was very much mistaken. She had some further designs on me, I was
+sure. She wanted to make use of me, how or in what way I could not
+imagine; but I soon perceived that she was anxious to be friends. The
+woman was in the ascendant, and, as I thought, the eternal feminine
+ever agog to attract and subjugate the male, she would conquer my
+admiration even if she could not secure my esteem.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, and quite without my invitation  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> or encouragement, she
+reseated herself by my side.</p>
+
+<p>"See, Colonel Annesley, let us come to an understanding." She said it
+quite gaily and with no shadow of apprehension left in her, not a sign
+of shame or remorse in her voice. Her mood had entirely changed. She
+was <i>d&eacute;bonnaire</i>, frolicsome, overflowing with fun.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean to do? Give me into custody? Call in the gendarmes
+at the next station? Have me taken red-handed with the&mdash;stolen
+property&mdash;the 'swag,' you know the word, perhaps, in my possession?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not a police officer; it's not my business," I answered gruffly.
+I thought this flippancy very much misplaced.</p>
+
+<p>"Or you might telegraph back to England, to London, to Scotland Yard:
+'The woman Blair in the Engadine express. Wire along the line to
+authorities, French and Swiss, to look out for her and arrest
+preparatory to extradition.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I would much rather not continue this conversation, Mrs. Blair."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not 'Mrs. Blair,'" she cried, laughing merrily as at a
+tremendous joke. "It is only one of my aliases. I am better known as
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> Slippery Sue, and the Countess of Plantagenet, and the Sly American,
+and dashing Mrs. Mortimer, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please, please spare me. It does not matter, not a row of pins,
+what you are called. I would rather not have the whole list," I
+interrupted her, but could not check her restless tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall hear, you must know all about me and my famous exploits. I
+was the heroine of that robbery at Buckingham Palace. I was at the
+State Ball, and made a fine harvest of jewels. I have swept a dozen
+country-houses clean; I have picked pockets and lifted old lace from
+the shop counters, and embezzled and forged&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And turned pirate, and held up trains, and robbed the Bank of
+England," I added, falling into her humour and laughing as she rose to
+her full height; and again her mood changed, dominating me with
+imperious air, her voice icily cold in manner, grave and repellent.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? I am a thief; you believe me to be a common thief."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I was too much taken aback to do better than stammer out helplessly,
+hopelessly, almost unintelligibly, a few words striving to remind her
+of her own admission. Nothing, indeed, could take the sting out of
+this, and yet it was all but impossible to accuse her, to blame her
+even for what she had done.</p>
+
+<p>She read that in my eyes, in my abashed face, my hands held out
+deprecating her wrath, and her next words had a note of conciliation
+in them.</p>
+
+<p>"There are degrees of wrong-doing, shades of guilt," she said.
+"Crimes, offences, misdeeds, call them as you please, are not
+absolutely unpardonable; in some respects they are excusable, if not
+justifiable. Do you believe that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to do so in your case," I replied gently. "You know I
+am still quite in the dark."</p>
+
+<p>"And you must remain so, for the present  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> at any rate," she said
+firmly and sharply. "I can tell you nothing, I am not called upon to
+do it indeed. We are absolute strangers, I owe you no explanation, and
+I would give you none, even if you asked."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not asked and shall not ask anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are willing to take it so, to put the best construction on
+what you have heard, to forget my words, to surrender your
+suspicions?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you will tell me only this: that I may have confidence in you,
+that I may trust you, some day, to enlighten me and explain what seems
+so incomprehensible to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorely tempted to do so now," she paused, lost for a time in
+deep and anxious thought; and then, after subjecting me to a long and
+intent scrutiny, she shook her head. "No, it cannot be, not yet. You
+must earn the right to my confidence, you must prove to me that you
+will not misuse it. There are others concerned; I am not speaking for
+myself alone. You must have faith in me, believe in me or let it be."</p>
+
+<p>She had beaten me, conquered me. I was  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> ready to be her slave with
+blind, unquestioning obedience.</p>
+
+<p>"As you think best. I will abide by your decision. Tell me all or
+nothing. If the first I will help you, if the latter I will also help
+you as far as lies in my power."</p>
+
+<p>"Without conditions?" And when I nodded assent such a smile lit up her
+face that more than repaid me, and stifled the doubts and qualms that
+still oppressed me. But, bewitched by the sorcery of her bright eyes,
+I said bravely:</p>
+
+<p>"I accept service&mdash;I am yours to command. Do with me what you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give me your hand on it?" She held out hers, gloveless,
+white and warm, and it lay in mine just a second while I pressed it to
+my lips in token of fealty and submission.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be my knight and champion, and I say it seriously. I may
+call you to fight for me, at least to defend and protect me in my
+present undertaking. The way is by no means clear. I cannot foresee
+what may happen on this journey. There are risks, dangers before me. I
+may ask you to share them. Do you repent already?"</p>
+
+<p>She had been watching me closely for any  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> sign of wavering, but I
+showed none, whatever I might feel in my inmost heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not disappoint you," was what I said, and, in a firm assured
+voice, added, "You have resolved then to travel forward in this
+train?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must, I have no choice. I dare not tarry by the way. But I no
+longer feel quite alone and unprotected. If trouble arises, I tell you
+candidly I shall try to throw it on you."</p>
+
+<p>"From what quarter do you anticipate it?" I asked innocently enough.
+"You expect to be pursued, I presume?"</p>
+
+<p>She held up a warning finger.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not in the compact. You are not to be inquisitive. Ask me no
+questions, please, but wait on events. For the present you must be
+satisfied so, and there is nothing more to be said."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see you again, I trust," I pleaded, as she rose to leave me.</p>
+
+<p>"If you wish, by all means. Why should we not dine together in the
+dining-car by and by?" she proposed with charming frankness, in the
+lighter mood that sat so well upon her. "The waiters will be there to
+play propriety, and no Mrs. Grundy within miles."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Or your maid might be chaperon at an adjoining table."</p>
+
+<p>"Philpotts? Impossible! She cannot leave&mdash;she must remain on duty; one
+of us must be in charge always. Who knows what might happen when our
+backs were turned? We might lose it&mdash;it might be abstracted. Horrible
+thought after all it has cost us."</p>
+
+<p>"'It' has evidently an extraordinary value in your eyes. If only I
+might be allowed to&mdash;" know more, I would have said, but she chose to
+put other words into my mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"To join us in the watching? Take your turn of 'sentry go'&mdash;isn't that
+your military term? Become one of us, belong to a gang of thieves,
+liable like the rest of us to the law? Ah, that would be trying you
+too far. I see your face fall."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to do much to serve you. I would gladly help you, see you
+through any difficulty by the way, but I'm afraid I must draw the line
+at active partnership," I answered a little lamely under her mocking
+eyes. Once more, as suddenly as before, she veered round.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a limit, then, to your devotion?" She was coldly sarcastic
+now, and I realized  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> painfully that I had receded in her favour. "I
+must not expect unhesitating self-sacrifice? So be it; it is well to
+know how far I may go. I sincerely hope I may have no need of you at
+all. How thankful I am that I never let you into my secrets! Good
+afternoon," and with a contemptuous whisk of her skirts and a laugh,
+she was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have nothing more to say to her," I cried in great heat, vexed
+and irritated beyond measure at her capricious temper. I should only
+be dragged into some pitfall, some snare, some dire unpleasantness.
+But what did I know of her real character? What of my first doubts and
+suspicions? She had by no means dispelled them. She had only
+bamboozled me by her insinuating ways, had drawn me on by her guileful
+cleverness to pity and promises to befriend her. I had accorded her an
+active sympathy which in my more sober moments I felt she did not,
+could not, deserve; if I were not careful she would yet involve me in
+some inextricable mess.</p>
+
+<p>So for half an hour I abused her fiercely; I swore at myself hotly as
+an ass, a hopeless and unmitigated ass, ever ready to be betrayed and
+beguiled by woman's wiles, the too easy victim  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> of the first pretty
+face I saw. The fit lasted for quite half an hour, and then came the
+reaction. I heard her rich deep voice singing in my ears, I felt the
+haunting glamour of her eyes, remembered her gracious presence, and my
+heart went out to her. I was so sorry for her: how could I cast her
+off? How could I withhold my countenance if she were in real distress?
+She was a woman&mdash;a weak, helpless woman; I could not desert and
+abandon her. However reprehensible her conduct might have been, she
+had a claim to my protection from ill-usage, and I knew in my heart
+that she might count upon a good deal more. I knew, of course, that I
+ought not to stand between her and the inevitable Nemesis that awaits
+upon misdeeds, but what if I helped her to avoid or escape it?</p>
+
+<p>The opportunity was nearer at hand than I thought. My kindly
+intentions, bred of my latest sentiments towards Mrs. Blair, were soon
+to be put to the test.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The train reached Amiens punctually at 5 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, and a stoppage
+of five minutes was announced. I got out to stretch my legs on the
+platform. No one took much notice of us; it must have been known that
+the train was empty, for there were no waiters from the buffet with
+<i>caf&eacute; au lait</i> or fruit, or <i>brioches</i>&mdash;no porters about, or other
+officials.</p>
+
+<p>I had not expected to see any passengers come on board the train, a
+through express, made up of sleeping-cars and a supplementary charge
+on the tickets. But on running into the station (ours was the first
+carriage) I had noticed a man standing with a valise in his hand, and
+I saw him following the train down the platform when we stopped. He
+addressed himself to a little group of conductors who had already
+alighted, and were gossiping idly among themselves, having nothing
+else to do. One of them indicated our particular attendant,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> to whom
+he spoke, and who brought him directly to our carriage.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently the newcomer was bound for Lucerne <i>via</i> Basle. Here was one
+more occupant of our neglected train, another companion and fellow
+traveller in our nearly empty sleeping-car. Curiosity and something
+more led me to examine this man closely; it was a strange, undefined,
+inexplicable sense of foreboding, of fateful forecast, that he and I
+were destined to be thrown together unpleasantly, to be much mixed up
+with one another, and to the comfort and satisfaction of neither.</p>
+
+<p>Who and what was he? His position in life, his business, trade or
+calling were not to be easily fixed; a commercial man, an agent or
+"traveller" on his own account, well-to-do and prosperous, was the
+notion borne out by his dress, his white waistcoat and coloured shirt
+of amazing pattern (a hint of his Italian origin), his rings and the
+showy diamond pin in his smart necktie.</p>
+
+<p>I added to this, my first impression, by further observation, for
+which I soon had abundant opportunity. When the train moved on, he
+came and took his seat on the flap seat (or <i>strapontin</i>) just
+opposite my compartment.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> I could not tell why, until presently he
+made overtures of sociability and began a desultory talk across the
+corridor. My cabin or compartment, it will be remembered, was the last
+but one; the newcomer had been given the one behind mine, and here
+from his seat he commanded the whole length of the carriage forward,
+which included the compartment occupied by Mrs. Blair and her party.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot say that I liked his looks or was greatly attracted by him.
+He was not prepossessing. Fair, with a flaccid unwholesome complexion,
+foxy haired, his beard cut to a point, small moustaches curled upward
+showing thin pale lips, and giving his mouth a disagreeable curve also
+upwards, a sort of set smile that was really a sardonic sneer,
+conveying distrust and disbelief in all around. His eyes were so deep
+set as to be almost lost in their recesses behind his sandy eyelashes,
+and he kept them screwed up close, with the intent watchful gaze of an
+animal about to make a spring. His whole aspect, his shifty, restless
+manner, his furtive looks, all were antipathetic and to his great
+advantage. I did not take to him at all, and plainly showed him  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> that
+I had no desire for his talk or his company.</p>
+
+<p>It was not easy to shake him off, however. He would take no offence; I
+was cold to positive rudeness, I snubbed him unmercifully; I did not
+answer his remarks or his questions, which were incessant and
+shamelessly inquisitorial. Nothing disconcerted him. I had all but
+shut the door of my compartment in his face, but it suddenly occurred
+to me that he was capable of wandering on, and when he found the
+ladies inflicting his greasy attentions upon them.</p>
+
+<p>I felt that I had better submit to his unpalatable society than let
+him bore Mrs. Blair with his colossal impudence.</p>
+
+<p>How right I was in this became at once apparent. He had taken out a
+cigar-case and pressed one upon me with such pertinacious, offensive
+familiarity that I could see no way out of it than by saying
+peremptorily:</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot smoke here. There are ladies in that compartment yonder."</p>
+
+<p>"Ladies indeed! You surprise me," but I saw a look on his face that
+convinced me he perfectly well knew they were there. "Ladies, aha! How
+many, may I ask?"</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"One at least, with her maid and a child," I replied gruffly.</p>
+
+<p>"And a child," he repeated, as if by rote. "Does monsieur, tell me
+quickly, I&mdash;I&mdash;beg&mdash;know them! Can he describe them to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall tell you nothing about them. What the mischief do you mean by
+asking me questions? Find out what you want for yourself." I was hot
+and indignant with the brute.</p>
+
+<p>"By George, you're right. I'll go and ask for leave to smoke. I shall
+find out then," and he jumped up, the spring seat closing with a bang
+from under him.</p>
+
+<p>The noise concealed the sound of the electric bell which I had pressed
+to summon the attendant, as I rushed out and caught the other man by
+the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the kind," I cried with very vigorous emphasis,
+backed by all my strength. "I'll shake you to a jelly if you dare to
+move another inch."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, I say, drop it. Who the deuce are you? None of your bally
+nonsense. Hands off, or I'll make you."</p>
+
+<p>But he was too soft and flabby to avail much, and I dragged him back
+helplessly with tightened  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> grip, only too delighted to try conclusions
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the conductor appeared upon the scene, and began to
+expostulate loudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, I say, what's all this? It can't be allowed. No fighting and
+quarrelling are permitted."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, people must behave themselves," I retorted. "Don't let
+this chap annoy your passengers."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done nothing to annoy them," stammered the other. "You shall
+answer for this. I've done no harm."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see you don't. Get in there and stay there;" and with that I
+forced him, almost flung him, into his compartment, where he fell
+panting upon the velvet sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better keep an eye on him," I said to the conductor, who was
+inclined to be disagreeable, and was barely pacified by a couple of
+five-franc pieces. "Fellows of this sort are apt to be a nuisance, and
+we must take care of the ladies."</p>
+
+<p>As I said this I saw Mrs. Blair's face peering out beyond her door a
+little nervously, but she ventured to come right out and along the
+passage towards me.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"What has happened? I heard some noise, high words, a scuffle."</p>
+
+<p>"Some ruffian who got in at Amiens, and who has had to be taught
+manners. I told him not to smoke here, and he wanted to intrude
+himself upon you, which I prevented, a little forcibly."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he? In here?" and she followed the indication of my thumb as
+I jerked it back, and looked over my shoulder into the compartment.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" The ejaculation was involuntary, and one of acute painful
+surprise, the gesture that accompanied it spontaneous and full of
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>"That man! that man!" she gasped. "He must not see me; let me go, let
+me go!"</p>
+
+<p>But her strength failed her, and but for my supporting arm she would
+have fallen to the ground. Half-fainting, I led her back to her own
+compartment, where her maid received her tenderly and with comforting
+words. There was clearly a strong bond of affection between these two,
+possibly companions and confederates in wrong-doing; the delicate and
+refined woman, tormented by the inner qualms of  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> outraged conscience,
+relied and leant upon the stronger and more resolute nature.</p>
+
+<p>"What's come to you, ma'am? There, there, don't give way," said the
+maid, softly coaxing her and stroking her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Philpotts, fancy! He is there! Falfani, the&mdash;the&mdash;you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Of course I saw it all now. Stupid ass! I might have guessed it all
+along. I had puzzled my brains vainly trying to place him, to fix his
+quality and condition in life, neglecting the one simple obvious
+solution to which so many plain indications pointed. The man, of
+course, was a detective, an officer or private agent, and his dirty
+business&mdash;you see, I was already shaken in my honesty, and now with
+increasing demoralization under seductive influences I was already
+inclined to cross over to the other side of the frontier of crime&mdash;his
+dirty business was the persecution of my sweet friend.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Blair, her nervous trepidation
+increasing. "I begin to think we shall fail, we cannot carry it
+through, we shall lose our treasure. It will be taken from us."</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot, you must not, shall not turn back now," said the maid
+with great  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> determination. "We must devise something, some way, of
+outwitting this Falfani. We did it before, we must do it again. After
+all he has no power over us; we are in France and shall be in
+Switzerland by daylight."</p>
+
+<p>"We ought to go on, you think? Wouldn't it be better to slip out of
+the train at the first station and run away?"</p>
+
+<p>"He would do the same. He does not intend to let us out of his sight.
+And how much the better should we be? It would be far worse; we should
+be much more at his mercy if we left the train. The journey would
+still have to be made; we must get to the end, the very end, or we'd
+better not have started."</p>
+
+<p>"He will know then, if he sticks to us. We cannot hide it from him,
+nor where we have taken it; we shall never be able to keep it, they
+will come and claim it and recover it;" and she cried hysterically: "I
+cannot see my way; it's all dark, black as night. I wish&mdash;I wish&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That you had never done it?" quickly asked the maid; and I noticed a
+slight sarcasm in her tone that was not without its effect in bracing
+up and strengthening her companion's shattered nerves.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no; I do not regret it, and I never shall. I did it
+deliberately, counting the cost fully, and it shall be paid, however
+heavy it may be. It is not regret that tortures me, but the fear of
+failure when so near success."</p>
+
+<p>"We will succeed yet. Do not be cast down, my sweet dear." The maid
+patted her on the cheek with great affection. "We shall find a way.
+This gentleman, the colonel here, will help us, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you?" Who could resist her pleading voice and shining eyes? If I
+had had any scruples left I would have thrown them to the winds.</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever lies in my power to do shall be done without stint or
+hesitation," I said solemnly, careless of all consequences, content to
+hold her hand and earn her heartfelt thanks. What though I were
+pawning my honour?</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h4>[<i>The Statement of Domenico Falfani, confidential agent,<br />
+made to his employers, Messrs. Becke and Co., of the <br />
+Private
+Inquiry Offices, 279 St. Martin's Lane, W.C.</i>]</h4>
+
+
+<p>I propose, gentlemen, to set down here at length the story of my
+mission, and the events which befell me from the time I first received
+my instructions. You desired me to pursue and call to strict account a
+certain lady of title, who had fallen away from her high estate and
+committed an act of rank felony. The circumstances which led up to her
+disappearance and the partners of her flight are already well known to
+you.</p>
+
+<p>The only indication given me, as you are aware, was that I might take
+it for granted that she would go abroad and probably by the most
+direct route to the South, to Switzerland and across the Alps into
+Italy. My orders having only reached me in the early morning,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> the
+theft having presumably been committed during the night previous to
+Sunday, September 21, I was unable to ascertain through the tourist
+agencies whether any and what tickets had been booked in the
+directions indicated.</p>
+
+<p>My most urgent duty then was to watch the outgoing Continental trains,
+the first of which left Charing Cross for Dover and Calais at 9
+<span class="smcap">a.m.</span> I closely watched it therefore, and its passengers, and
+travelled with it to Cannon Street, where I continued my search, but
+without result. I was greatly helped in my quest by the not unusual
+fact noticeable on Sundays, that travellers abroad are few in number.</p>
+
+<p>I had no difficulty in satisfying myself that the lady and her party
+were not in this train, and I returned at once to Charing Cross in
+time for the second Continental train, the 10 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span></p>
+
+<p>I had resolved to book myself by that as far as Amiens, for I knew
+that, once there, I should have reached a central point or junction, a
+sort of throat through which every train moving southward to Paris or
+Switzerland must pass.</p>
+
+<p>There remained, of course, the route via Dover by Ostend and through
+Brussels; but I had been informed by you that Ludovic Tiler,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> my
+colleague and coworker, was to undertake the inquiry on that line.</p>
+
+<p>It is part of my business to be thoroughly familiar with the
+Continental Bradshaw, and I soon ticked off the different trains that
+interested me.</p>
+
+<p>There was first the 11 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> from Victoria by Dover and
+Calais, where it connected with the Paris express and the sleeping-car
+Engadine express, both of which run through Amiens, where, however,
+the latter branches off to Basle and beyond, with special cars for
+Lucerne, Zurich and Coire.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the 2.20 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> from Charing Cross to Folkestone, and
+so to Boulogne, Amiens and the rest, travelling the same road as the
+Engadine express. This was the last of the day service, as it gave
+most time, allowing people to start at the very latest moment, and I
+felt it quite probable that my lady would prefer to take it.</p>
+
+<p>I reached Amiens a little before 5 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, and I had a wait of
+half an hour for the first express from Calais. I was greatly
+disappointed when at last it appeared issuing from the tunnel, and
+passed me where I stood at the commencement of the platform, taking
+stock of  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> each carriage as it passed. The train seemed to be quite
+empty; there were no passengers, so the officials, the conductors,
+informed me when I talked to them, sad and unhappy at the certain loss
+of tips. Only one of them had any luck, Jules l'Echelle, of the
+Lucerne sleeping-car, who had one or two people on board.</p>
+
+<p>I questioned him not very hopefully, but was agreeably surprised when
+he told me that his clients consisted of two ladies with a child, and
+one gentleman. English? Yes, all English. The lady, quite a lady, a
+<i>grande dame belle personne</i>, tall, fine figure, well dressed; her
+companion no doubt her servant; the child, well, an ordinary child, an
+infant in arms. What would you?</p>
+
+<p>I had them, I felt sure. There could be no mistaking this description.
+I held them in the hollow of my hand. Here they were in this car, and
+it would be all my own fault if they escaped me. It would be necessary
+only to verify my conclusions, to identify the lady according to the
+description and photograph given me. For the rest I knew what to do.</p>
+
+<p>But now a quite unexpected difficulty turned up.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, there was one other passenger,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> a gentleman, in the
+car, and I felt it would be prudent to make his acquaintance. No doubt
+I could tell at the first glance whether or not he was an ordinary
+traveller, or whether he was a friend and accomplice of the lady under
+observation.</p>
+
+<p>I regret to say that he met me in a very hostile spirit. I was at
+great pains to be affable, to treat him with all the courtly
+consideration I have at command, and I flatter myself that in the
+matter of tact and good-breeding I do not yield to princes of the
+blood royal. But my civility was quite thrown away. The man was an
+absolute brute, abrupt, overbearing, rude. Nothing would conciliate
+him. I offered him a cigar (a Borneo of the best brand, at 10s. the
+hundred), and he not only refused it, but positively forbade me to
+smoke. There were ladies in the carriage, he said (this was the first
+reference made to them), and, when declining to be ordered about, I
+proposed to refer the question to themselves, he threw himself
+violently upon me and assaulted me brutally.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately the attendant came to my rescue or I should have been
+seriously injured. He lifted me into my compartment very kindly, and
+acted like an old friend, as indeed he was,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> for I remembered him as
+the Jules l'Echelle with whom I served some time back as an assistant
+at the Baths of Bormio.</p>
+
+<p>It was, of course, clear to my mind that my assailant was associated
+in some way with the lady, and probably a confederate. I saw that I
+must know more about him, with the least possible delay, and as soon
+as Jules had left me, promising to return later and talk of old times,
+and the changes that had come over us since then, I ventured to look
+out and get a glimpse of the other man, I will not call him gentleman
+after his conduct.</p>
+
+<p>He was nowhere in sight, but I could hear his voice, several voices,
+talking together at the far end. No doubt he had joined his friends in
+their compartment, and the moment seemed opportune to visit his. It
+was next to mine, and the door stood invitingly open. A few minutes,
+seconds even, would be enough to tell me something of his identity,
+perhaps all I wanted to.</p>
+
+<p>At least he made no pretence at mystery; his light baggage lay about,
+a dressing bag, a roll of rugs, a couple of sticks and an umbrella
+strapped together, all very neat and precise and respectable, and all
+alike furnished  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> with a parchment tag or label bearing in plain
+language all that I wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>His name was printed "Lieut.-Col. Basil Annesley," and his club, the
+Mars and Neptune, that famous military house in Piccadilly.
+Underneath, on all, his destination was written, "Hotel Bellevue,
+Bellagio, Como." There could never be the least difficulty in finding
+this person if I wanted him, as I thought likely. He was a blustering,
+swashbuckling army officer, who could always be brought to account if
+he misconducted himself, or mixed himself up in shady transactions.</p>
+
+<p>In my great contentment at the discovery I had been wanting in
+caution, and I lingered too long on forbidden ground.</p>
+
+<p>"You infernal scoundrel," cried some one from the door, and once more
+I felt an angry hand on my shoulder. "How come you here? Explain
+yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"It's all a mistake," I began, trying to make the best of it,
+struggling to get free. But he still held me in a grip of iron, and it
+was not until my friend Jules appeared that I got out of the enemy's
+clutches.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, I say!" shouted Jules vaguely. "This won't do, you know. I
+shall have to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> lodge a complaint against you for brawling."</p>
+
+<p>"Complaint, by George!" he replied, shaking his fist at me. "The boot
+is on the other leg, I take it. How is it that I find this chap in my
+compartment? Foraging about, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed no, Colonel Annesley," I protested, forgetting myself; and he
+caught at it directly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oho, so you know my name! That proves what I say. You've been messing
+about and overhauling my things. I won't stand it. The man's a thief.
+He will have to be locked up."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not the only thief in the car, then," I cried, for I was now mad
+with him and his threats.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you're driving at, or whom you think to accuse; but
+I tell you this, my friend, that I shall call in the police at the
+next station and hand you over."</p>
+
+<p>I looked at the conductor Jules, appealing for protection. I saw at
+once that it would be terrible for me to have any trouble with the
+police. They could do me no harm, but I might be delayed, obliged to
+leave the train, and I should lose sight of the lady, possibly fail
+altogether.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Jules responded at once. "Come, come," he said. "You're talking big.
+You might own the whole train. Who might you be?"</p>
+
+<p>"None of your confounded impudence," shouted the Colonel, as he
+pointed to one of the luggage labels. "That's who I am. It's good
+enough to get you discharged before you're a much older man. And now I
+call upon you to do your duty. I have caught this man under suspicious
+circumstances in the very act of rifling my effects. I insist upon his
+being taken into custody."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't enough for that," Jules answered, still my friend, but
+weakening a little before this masterly army officer, and I felt that
+I must speak for myself.</p>
+
+<p>"And if you stop me I will have the law of you for false imprisonment,
+and bring heavy damages. You will be doing me a great injury in my
+business."</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely what I should like to do, my fine fellow. I can guess what
+your business is. Nothing reputable, I feel sure."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not ashamed of it, and I have powerful friends behind me. I am
+acting for&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" he asked me mockingly, for I had checked my tongue, fearing to
+say too much.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"It is my affair. Enough that you will feel the weight of their hands
+if you interfere with me in carrying out their instructions."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, anyhow, tell me who you are. I've a right to know that in
+exchange. You chose to help yourself to my name; now I insist upon
+knowing yours."</p>
+
+<p>I told him, not very readily, as may be supposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Domenico Falfani? Is that your own or a 'purser's' name? Come, you
+know what I mean. It's part of your stock in trade to understand all
+languages, including slang. Is that the name he has given you?"&mdash;this
+to the conductor. "Show me your way-bill, your <i>feuille de route</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Jules at a nod from me produced it, and no doubt understood my reason
+when in my turn I claimed to see it.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a clear right," I insisted, overruling all objections raised
+by the Colonel; and taking it into my hands I read the names aloud,
+"Colonel Annesley, Mrs. Blair, maid and child." I pronounced the name
+with great contempt.</p>
+
+<p>"You talk of purser's names," I said sneeringly. "What do you think of
+this? Blair,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> indeed! No more the woman's name than Smith or Jones, or
+what you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak more respectfully of a lady," cried the Colonel, catching me
+tightly by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady? Oho! Don't, Colonel, drop it. At any rate, she is not Mrs.
+Blair; you may take that from me," I said as impressively as a judge
+on the bench. "And what's more, Colonel, I wouldn't press charges you
+can't substantiate against me, or I may hit back with another not so
+easy to meet. Try to stop me at the next station, and I'll stop your
+pal&mdash;ah, don't"&mdash;he had a cruelly strong hand&mdash;"your Mrs. Blair, and
+she'll find herself in a particularly tight place."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll see about that," said the Colonel, who kept a stiff face, but
+was, I think, rather crestfallen. "I shall act as I think best.
+Anyhow, get out of this, both of you. This is my private berth, and
+you are trespassing."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Whatever may have been the Colonel's intentions when he caught me in
+his compartment, something, and I think my last words, led him to
+modify them. He felt, probably, that if he attacked me I might
+retaliate unpleasantly. I ought to be able to hold my own with him,
+although in truth I was not over happy at the course events had taken,
+and I could not compliment myself on my good management.</p>
+
+<p>I had not been overprudent; I had pressed my attentions on him rather
+abruptly, although I had the excuse that I usually found them well
+received, thanks to my affable address; again I had behaved most
+incautiously in penetrating his identity.</p>
+
+<p>And, worse than all, I had still no certainty. I could only surmise
+that the lady was the one I was in search of, for I had not as yet
+clapt eyes on her, and I had been to some extent driven to show my
+hand before I had made  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> my ground good. So the first thing I did on
+regaining my own compartment was to ring for Jules, the conductor, and
+put before him the photograph with which I was provided, and ask him
+if he recognized it.</p>
+
+<p>"But perfectly. It is the lady yonder," he said promptly. "Is it your
+own, or did you find it or annex it from next door? Ah, your own; and
+what have you to do with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may tell you some day, Jules. For the present you must know that I
+am after her; I have to watch her, stick to her like her shadow until
+it is time to act."</p>
+
+<p>"An adventuress, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is in possession of what does not belong to her; something she
+abstracted from&mdash;from&mdash;Never mind where, and it must be recovered from
+her here, or after she leaves the car."</p>
+
+<p>"Afterwards, please. We can't have any scandal on board here."</p>
+
+<p>"Five hundred francs wouldn't tempt you to let me have a free hand for
+just half an hour? I could do it, say somewhere short of Basle, and on
+reaching there make off. No one should be any the wiser, and they, the
+women, wouldn't dare to make a fuss."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"It's I who do not dare&mdash;not for twice five hundred francs. My place
+is worth more than that; and if it is a dog's life, it is better than
+lying on the straw. Besides, there's her friend the Colonel, he'll be
+on the alert, you may depend."</p>
+
+<p>"So must I be, and I must find some way to circumvent him. I'll be
+even with him. He sha'n't beat me, the overbearing, hectoring brute.
+It's between him and me, and I think I'm a match for him."</p>
+
+<p>I spoke this confidently to my friend, who engaged for his part to do
+all in his power to assist, or at least to do nothing against me, and
+I was content to bide my time. Pride goes before a fall. I was not as
+clever as I thought, and shall have to tell you how seriously I had
+underrated his worth in the coming trial of strength.</p>
+
+<p>As the train sped on and the night began to close in on us, I remained
+quietly in my berth, pondering over my position, and in considering
+the course I should adopt under various contingencies. The first and
+most serious danger was that the lady should succeed in leaving the
+train at any of the intermediate stations  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> at Basle, and so give me
+the slip. There were Laon, Rheims, Chaumont, and the rest.</p>
+
+<p>It must be my business to keep close watch against any evasion of this
+kind, and Jules had promised to help. I did not look for any such
+attempt until far into the night, when the stations were empty and
+half-dark, and I agreed with Jules to divide the hours till daylight,
+he taking the first, I the last. We were due at Basle at 5
+<span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, and I expected to join forces then with Tiler, my
+colleague, coming from the side of Ostend, via Brussels and Strasburg.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile I kept quiet and made no sign beyond showing that I was
+there and on the spot ready to act if it should be necessary. Thus,
+when the train slackened speed on approaching a station, I was always
+on the move and the first to descend and patrol the platform. The
+Colonel always got out too, but he never accosted me; indeed, he
+seemed disposed to despise me, to ignore my existence, or dare me to
+the worst I could do.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose the lady must have been of the same mind, for when
+dinner-time arrived, she came boldly out of her compartment, and I met
+her face to face for the first time, on her way  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> to the restaurant. I
+was standing at the door of my compartment.</p>
+
+<p>"Dinner is ready," the Colonel said to me significantly, but I did not
+choose to understand, and shook my head, holding my ground.</p>
+
+<p>"You are coming to dinner, I think," he repeated in a sharp commanding
+way, as if he were talking to his soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall please myself about that," I replied gruffly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it. One moment," he whispered to the lady, who walked
+on, and turned again to me: "Now see here, my friend, I do not mean to
+leave you behind. You will come to the dining-car with us, and no two
+ways about it, even if I have to carry you."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't dine with you," I cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I never asked you to dine with me, but you shall dine when I do. I
+will pay for your dinner, but I wouldn't sit at table with you for
+worlds," he shouted with scornful laughter. "You're going to dine
+under my eye, that's all, even though the sight of you is enough to
+make one sick. So come along, sharp's the word, see? Walk first; let
+him pass you, Mrs. Blair."</p>
+
+<p>I felt I had no choice. He was capable of  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> again assaulting me. There
+was something in his manner that cowed me, and I was obliged in spite
+of myself to give way.</p>
+
+<p>There were only three of us in the dining-car, and we were not a very
+merry company. Our tables were laid almost adjoining, and there was no
+conversation between us, except when the Colonel asked me with
+contemptuous civility what wine I preferred. He did not talk to the
+lady, or the merest commonplaces, for I was within earshot. But I made
+an excellent dinner, I must confess. I had eaten nothing since Amiens.
+Then I got back to my berth, where the bed was made. I threw myself on
+to it, rejoiced at the prospect of getting a few hours' sleep while
+Jules remained on the watch.</p>
+
+<p>He was to call me a little before reaching Basle, and, like an ass
+that I was, I fully relied on his doing so, believing him to be my
+friend. Such friendship as his did not bear any great strain, as I
+learnt presently to my great chagrin.</p>
+
+<p>I slept heavily, but in fitful snatches, as a man does when constantly
+disturbed by the whirr and whizzing of the train, the rattle and
+jangle of wheels passing over ill-jointed points.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> After one of the
+longest periods of unconsciousness I awoke, aroused by the complete
+absence of noise. The train was at a standstill in some station and
+making a very protracted halt.</p>
+
+<p>Something moved me to lift the blind and look out, and I saw, not
+without uneasiness, that we were at Basle. I thought I recognized the
+station, but I soon made out for certain the name "Basilea" (Basle),
+and saw the clock with the fingers at five-thirty. People were already
+on the move, work-people, the thrifty, industrious Swiss, forestalling
+time, travellers in twos and threes arriving and departing by the
+early train through this great junction on the frontier of
+Switzerland.</p>
+
+<p>Stay! What? Who are those crossing the platform hurriedly. Great
+powers! Right under my eyes, a little party of four, two females, two
+men accompanying them, escorting them, carrying rugs and parcels.
+There could not be a shadow of doubt.</p>
+
+<p>It was the lady, the so-called Mrs. Blair, in full flight, with all
+her belongings, and under the care and guidance not only of the
+Colonel, that of course, but also of the perfidious Jules l'Echelle.
+He had sold me! All doubt of his treachery disappeared when on rushing
+to the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> door I found I had been locked into my compartment.</p>
+
+<p>I rang the electric bell frantically, again and again. I got no
+answer; I threw up the window and thrust my head out, shouting for
+help, but got none, only one or two sluggish porters came up and asked
+what was amiss, answering stolidly, when they heard, that it was none
+of their business. "They had no key, it must be a mistake. The
+conductor would explain, I must wait till he came."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Jules arrived, walking very leisurely from the direction of
+the restaurant, and he stood right under my window with a grin on his
+face and mockery in his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"What's wrong? Locked in? Can't be possible? Who could have done it? I
+will inquire," he said slowly and imperturbably.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; let me out first. You can do it if you choose. I believe it
+was your trickery from the first. I must get out, I tell you, or they
+will escape me," I cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Not unlikely. I may say it is pretty certain they will. That was the
+Colonel's idea; you'd better talk to him about it next time you see
+him."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"And that will be never, I expect. He's not going to show up here
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"There you're wrong; he will be back before the train starts, you may
+rely on that, and you'll be able to talk to him. We'll let you out
+then," he was laughing at me, traitor that he was. "Here he comes.
+We're just going on."</p>
+
+<p>Now I saw my last chance of successfully performing my mission
+disappearing beyond recall. I renewed my shouts and protests, but was
+only laughed at for my pains. The railway officials at Basle might
+have interfered, but Jules answered for me, declaring with a
+significant gesture that I was in drink and that he would see to me.</p>
+
+<p>I quite despaired. Already the train was moving out of the station,
+when, to my intense joy, I caught sight of Ludovic Tiler, who came
+down the platform running alongside us, and crying, "Falfani,
+Falfani," as he recognized me.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mind me," I shouted to him. "I must go on, I can't help myself.
+It's for you to take it up now. She's in the restaurant. You'll easily
+know her, in a long ulster, with her maid and the child. You can't
+miss her. By  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> the Lord, she is standing at the door! Get away with
+you, don't let her see you talking with me. She must not know we are
+acting in common, and I do hope she hasn't noticed. Be off, I tell
+you, only let me hear of you; wire to Lucerne what you're doing.
+Address telegraph-office. Send me a second message at Goeschenen. I
+shall get one or both. Say where I may answer and where I can join
+you."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The timely appearance of my colleague, Ludovic Tiler, consoled me a
+little for the loss of the lady and her lot. I had failed, myself, but
+I hoped that with my lead he would get on to the scent and keep to it.
+Ere long, on the first intimation from him I might come into the game
+again. I should be guided by his wire if I got it.</p>
+
+<p>For the moment I was most concerned to find out whether Tiler's
+intervention and my short talk with him had been noticed by the other
+side. If the Colonel knew that another man was on his friend's track,
+he would surely have left the train at once so as to go to her
+assistance. But he was still in the train, I could hear him plainly,
+speaking to Jules in the next compartment. Again, as we sped on, I
+reasoned favourably from their leaving me as I was, still under lock
+and key. No one came near me until after we had passed Olten station,
+the first stopping-place after Basle, where I could alight and retrace
+my steps. By holding  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> on to me I guessed that I was still thought to
+be the chief danger, and that they had no suspicion of Tiler's
+existence.</p>
+
+<p>I laughed in my sleeve, but not the less did I rage and storm when
+Jules l'Echelle came with the Colonel to release me.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall pay for this," I cried hotly.</p>
+
+<p>"As for you, l'Echelle, it shall cost you your place, and I'll take
+the law of you, Colonel Annesley; I'll get damages and you shall
+answer for your illegal action."</p>
+
+<p>"Pfui!" retorted the Colonel. "The mischief you can do is nothing to
+what you might have done. We can stand the racket. I've bested you for
+the present&mdash;that's the chief thing, anyway. You can't persecute the
+poor lady any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor lady! Do you know who she is or was, anyway?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I do," he answered bold as brass.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she let on? Told you, herself? My word! She's got a nerve. I
+wonder she'd own to it after all she's done."</p>
+
+<p>"Silence!" he shouted, in a great taking. "If you dare to utter a
+single word against that lady, I'll break every bone in your body."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm saying nothing&mdash;it's not me, it's all  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> the world. It was in the
+papers, you must have read them, the most awful story, such&mdash;such
+depravity there never was&mdash;such treachery, such gross misconduct."</p>
+
+<p>He caught me by the arm so violently and looked so fierce that for a
+moment I was quite alarmed.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop it, I tell you. Leave the lady alone, both by word and deed.
+You'll never find her again, I've seen to that. She has escaped you."</p>
+
+<p>"Aha! You think so? Don't be too cocksure. We understand our
+business better than that, we don't go into it single-handed. You've
+collared me for a bit, but I'm not the only one in the show."</p>
+
+<p>"The only one that counts," he said sneering.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I?" I answered in the same tone. "What if I had a pal waiting for
+me at Basle, who received my instructions there&mdash;just when you thought
+you had me safe&mdash;and has now taken up the running?"</p>
+
+<p>He was perfectly staggered at this, I could see plainly. I thought at
+first he would have struck me, he was so much upset.</p>
+
+<p>"You infernal villain," he shouted, "I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> believe the whole thing is a
+confounded lie! Explain."</p>
+
+<p>"I owe you no explanations," I replied stiffly, "my duty is to my
+employers. I only account to them for my conduct. I am a confidential
+agent."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed impressed by this, for when he spoke again it was more
+quietly. But he looked me very straight in the eyes. I felt that he
+was still likely to give trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I cannot expect you to tell me things. You must go
+your own way and I shall go mine."</p>
+
+<p>"I should advise you to leave it, Colonel," I said, civilly enough.
+"I'm always anxious to conciliate and avoid unpleasantness. Give up
+the whole business; you will only burn your fingers."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! How so?"</p>
+
+<p>"The law is altogether against you. It is a nasty job; better not be
+mixed up in it. Have you any idea what that woman&mdash;that lady," I
+corrected myself, for his eyes flashed, "has done?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing really wrong," he was warming up into a new burst of passion.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell that to the Courts and to the Judge  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> when you are prosecuted for
+contempt and charged as an accessory after the fact. How will you like
+that? It will take the starch out of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Rot! The law can't do us much harm. The only person who might make it
+disagreeable is Lord Blackadder, and I snap my fingers at him."</p>
+
+<p>"The Earl of Blackadder? Are you mad? He is a great personage, a rich
+and powerful nobleman. You cannot afford to fight him; he will be too
+strong for you. He has been made the victim of an abominable outrage,
+and will spare no effort, no means, no money to recover his own."</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Blackadder is a cad&mdash;a cruel, cowardly ruffian. I know all about
+him and what has happened. It would give me the greatest pleasure to
+kick him down the street. Failing that, I shall do my best to upset
+and spoil his schemes, and so you know."</p>
+
+<p>I smiled contemptuously. "A mere Colonel against an Earl! What sort of
+a chance have you? It's too absurd."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see. Those laugh longest who laugh last."</p>
+
+<p>By this time our talk was done, for we were  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> approaching Lucerne, and
+I began to think over my next plans. All must depend on what I heard
+there&mdash;upon what news, if any, came from Ludovic Tiler.</p>
+
+<p>So on my arrival I made my way straight to the telegraph-office in the
+corner of the great station, and on showing my card an envelope was
+handed to me. It was from Tiler at Basle, and ran as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"They have booked through by 7.30 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, via Brienne, Lausanne
+to Brieg, and I suppose the Simplon. I shall accompany. Can you join
+me at either end&mdash;Brieg or Domo Dossola? The sooner the better. Wire
+me from all places along the route, giving your movements. Address me
+in my train No. 70."</p>
+
+<p>The news pointed pretty clearly to the passage of the Alps and descent
+into Italy by another route than the St. Gothard. I had my Bradshaw in
+my bag, and proceeded at once to verify the itinerary by the
+time-table, while I drank my early coffee in the restaurant upon the
+station platform. I was most anxious to join hands with Tiler, and
+quickly turned over the leaves of my railway guide to see if it was
+possible, and how it might best be managed.</p>
+
+<p>My first idea was to retrace my steps to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> Basle and follow him by the
+same road. But I soon found that the trains would not fit in the very
+least. He would be travelling by the one fast train in the day, which
+was due at Brieg at four o'clock in the afternoon. My first chance, if
+I caught the very next train back from Lucerne, would only get me to
+Brieg by the eleven o'clock the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>It was not good enough, and I dismissed the idea forthwith. Then I
+remembered that by getting off the St. Gothard railway at Goeschenen I
+should strike the old Furka diligence route by the Devil's Bridge,
+Hospenthal, and the Rhone Glacier, a drive of fifty miles, more or
+less, but at least it would get me to Brieg that same night by 10 or
+11 o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Before adopting this line I had to consider that there was a risk of
+missing Tiler and his quarry; that is to say, of being too late for
+them; for the lady might decide to push on directly she reached Brieg,
+taking a special carriage extra post as far as the Simplon at least,
+even into Domo Dossola. She was presumably in such a hurry that the
+night journey would hardly deter her from driving over the pass. Tiler
+would certainly follow. By  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> the time I reached Brieg they would be
+halfway across the Alps, and I must take the same road, making a stern
+chase, proverbially the longest.</p>
+
+<p>I turned my attention, therefore, to the Italian end of the carriage
+road, and to seeing how and when I could reach Domo Dossola, the
+alternative suggestion made by Tiler. There would be no difficulty as
+to that, and I found I could be there in good time the same evening. I
+worked it out on the tables and it looked easy enough.</p>
+
+<p>Leave Lucerne by the St. Gothard railway, pass Goeschenen, and go
+through the tunnel down the Italian side as far as Bellizona. Thence a
+branch line would take me to Locarno and into touch with the steamboat
+service on Lake Maggiore. There was a fixed connection according to
+the tables, and I should land at Pallanza within a short hour's drive
+of the line to Domo Dossola. I could be established there by nightfall
+and would command the situation. Every carriage that came down the
+Simplon must come under my eye.</p>
+
+<p>There could be no doubt that the Bellizona-Locarno Lake line was the
+preferable one, and I finally decided in favour of it. I closed my
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> Bradshaw with a bang, replaced it in my bag, drank up my coffee, and
+started for the telegraph office. I meant to advise Tiler of my plans,
+and at the same time arrange with him to look out for me just outside
+the terminus station at Domo Dossola, or to communicate with me there
+at the H&ocirc;tel de la Poste.</p>
+
+<p>On coming out I ran up against the last person I wished to see. It was
+the Colonel, who greeted me with a loud laugh, and gave me a slap on
+the back.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloa, my wily detective," he said mockingly; "settled it all quite
+to your satisfaction? Done with Bradshaw&mdash;sent off your wires? Well,
+what's the next move?"</p>
+
+<p>"I decline to hold any conversation with you," I began severely. "I
+beg you will not intrude upon my privacy. I do not desire your
+acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoity toity!" he cried. "On your high horse, eh? Aren't you afraid
+you may fall off or get knocked off?" and he raised his hand with an
+ugly gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not alone now in a railway carriage. There are police about,
+and the Swiss police do not approve of brawling," I replied, with all
+the dignity I could assume.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Come, Falfani, tell me what you mean to do now," he went on in the
+same tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Your questions are an impertinence. I do not know you. I do not
+choose to know you, and I beg you will leave me alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't think of it, my fine fellow. I'm not going to leave you alone.
+You may make up your mind to that. Where you go, I go; what you do, I
+shall do. We are inseparables, you and I, as much united as the
+Siamese twins. So I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's monstrous, it's not to be tolerated. I shall appeal for
+protection to the authorities."</p>
+
+<p>"Do so, my friend, do so. See which will get the best of that. I don't
+want to swagger, but at any rate all the world knows pretty well who I
+am; but what shall you call yourself, Mr. Falfani?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have my credentials from my employers; I have letters,
+testimonials, recommendations from the best people."</p>
+
+<p>"Including the Earl of Blackadder, I presume? I admit your great
+advantages. Well, try it. You may get the best of it in the long run,
+but you'll lose a good deal of time. I'm not in a hurry," he said with
+emphasis, and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> promptly recalled me to my senses, for I realized that
+I could not fight him that way. It must be by stratagem or evasion. I
+must throw dust in his eyes, put him off the scent, mislead, befool,
+elude him somehow.</p>
+
+<p>How was I to shake him off now I saw that he was determined to stick
+to me? He had said it in so many words. He would not let me out of his
+sight; wherever I went he was coming too.</p>
+
+<p>The time was drawing on for the departure of the St. Gothard express
+at 9.8 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, and as yet I had no ticket. I had booked at
+Amiens as far as Lucerne only, leaving further plans as events might
+fall out. Now I desired to go on, but did not see how I was to take a
+fresh ticket without his learning my destination. He would be certain
+to be within earshot when I went up to the window.</p>
+
+<p>I was beginning to despair when I saw Cook's man, who was, as usual,
+hovering about to assist travellers in trouble, and I beckoned him to
+approach.</p>
+
+<p>"See that gentleman," I nodded towards the Colonel. "He wants you; do
+your best for him." And when the tourist agent proceeded on his
+mission to be accosted, I fear  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> rather unceremoniously, I slipped off
+and hid out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>I felt sure I was unobserved as I took my place in the crowd at the
+ticket-window, but when I had asked and paid for my place to Locarno I
+heard, to my disgust, some one else applying for a ticket to exactly
+the same place, and in a voice that was strangely familiar.</p>
+
+<p>On looking round I saw Jules l'Echelle, the sleeping-car conductor,
+but out of uniform, and with an amused grin on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems that we are still to be fellow travellers," he observed
+casually.</p>
+
+<p>"What is taking you to Lake Maggiore? How about your service on the
+car?" I asked suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"I have business at Locarno, and have got a few days' leave to attend
+to it."</p>
+
+<p>I felt he was lying to me. He had been bought, I was sure. His
+business was the Colonel's, who had set him to assist in watching me.
+I had two enemies then to encounter, and I realized with some
+misgiving that the Colonel was not a man to be despised.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I secured a place with difficulty; there was rather a rush for the St.
+Gothard express when it ran in. It was composed as usual of corridor
+carriages, all classes <i>en suite</i>, and I knew that it would be
+impossible to conceal the fact that I was on board the train. Within
+five minutes Jules had verified the fact and taken seats in the
+immediate neighbourhood, to which he and the Colonel presently came.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a pleasant little party!" he said in a bantering tone. "All
+bound for Locarno, eh? Ever been to Locarno before, Mr. Falfani?
+Delightful lake, Maggiore. Many excursions, especially by steamer; the
+Borromean islands well worth seeing, and Baveno and Stresa and the
+road to the Simplon."</p>
+
+<p>I refused to be drawn, and only muttered that I hated excursions and
+steamers and lakes, and wished to be left in peace.</p>
+
+<p>"A little out of sorts, I'm afraid, Mr. Falfani. Sad that. Too many
+emotions, want of  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> sleep, perhaps. You <i>would</i> do <i>too</i> much last
+night." He still kept up his hateful babble, and Jules maddened me by
+his sniggering enjoyment of my discomfiture.</p>
+
+<p>More than ever did I set my brain to puzzle out some way of escaping
+this horrible infliction. Was it not possible to give them the slip,
+somehow, somewhere? I took the Colonel's hint, and pretended to take
+refuge in sleep, and at last, I believe, I dozed off. It must have
+been in my dreams that an idea came to me, a simple idea, easy of
+execution with luck and determination.</p>
+
+<p>It was suggested to me by the short tunnels that succeed so frequently
+in the ascent of the St. Gothard Alps. They are, as most people know,
+a chief feature in the mountain railway, and a marvel of engineering
+skill, being cut in circles to give the necessary length and gain the
+height with a moderate gradient. Speed is so far slackened that it
+would be quite possible to drop off the train without injury whenever
+inclined. My only difficulty would be to alight without interference
+from my persecutors.</p>
+
+<p>I nursed my project with eyes shut, still feigning sleep; and my
+extreme quiescence had, as I hoped, the effect of throwing them off
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> their guard. Jules, like all in the same employment, was always ready
+for forty winks, and I saw that he was sound and snoring just as we
+entered the last tunnel before reaching the entrance of the final
+great tunnel at Goeschenen. I could not be quite sure of the Colonel,
+but his attitude was that of a man resting, and who had very nearly
+lost himself, if he had not quite gone off.</p>
+
+<p>Now was my time. If it was to be done at all it must be quickly,
+instantaneously almost. Fortunately we sat at the extreme end of a
+coach, in the last places, and besides we three there was only one
+other occupant in the compartment of six. The fourth passenger was
+awake, but I made a bid for his good-will by touching my lips with a
+finger, and the next minute I was gone.</p>
+
+<p>I expected to hear the alarm given at my disappearance, but none
+reached my ears, as the train rattled past me with its twinkling
+lights and noisy road. I held myself close against the side of the
+tunnel in perfect safety, although the hot wind of the passing cars
+fanned my cheek and rather terrified me. The moment the train was well
+gone I faced the glimmering light that showed the entrance to the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> tunnel at the further end from the station, and ran to it with all
+speed.</p>
+
+<p>I knew that my jump from the train could not pass unnoticed, and I
+counted on being followed. I expected that the tunnel would be
+explored by people from Goeschenen so soon as the train ran in and
+reported. My first object, therefore, was to quit the line, and I did
+so directly I was clear of the tunnel. I climbed the fence, dropped
+into a road, left that again to ascend the slope and take shelter
+among the rocks and trees.</p>
+
+<p>The pursuit, if any, was not very keen or long maintained. When all
+was quiet, an hour later I made for the highroad, the famous old road
+that leads through the Devil's Pass to Andermatt, three miles above. I
+altogether avoided the Goeschenen station, fearing any inconvenient
+inquiries, and abandoned all idea of getting the telegram from Tiler
+that might be possibly awaiting me. It did not much matter. I should
+be obliged now to send him fresh news, news of the changed plans that
+took me direct into Brieg; and on entering Andermatt I came upon the
+post-office, just where I wanted it, both to send my message and order
+an extra post carriage from Brieg.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> </p>
+
+<p>It was with a sense of intense relief that I sank back into the
+cushions and felt that at last I was free. My satisfaction was
+abruptly destroyed. Long before I reached Hospenthal, a mile or so
+from Andermatt, I was disturbed by strange cries to the accompaniment
+of harness bells.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo-icks, Yo-icks, G-o-ne away!" was borne after me with all the force
+of stentorian lungs, and looking round I saw to my horror a second
+carriage coming on at top speed, and beyond all question aiming to
+overtake us. Soon they drew nearer, near enough for speech, and the
+accursed Colonel hailed me.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you cunning fox, so you broke cover and got away all in a
+moment! Lucky you were seen leaving the train, or we might have
+overrun the scent and gone on."</p>
+
+<p>I did not answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Nice morning for a drive, Mr. Falfani, and a long drive," he went on,
+laughing boisterously. "Going all the way to Brieg by road, I believe?
+So are we. Pity we did not join forces. One carriage would have done
+for all three of us."</p>
+
+<p>Still I did not speak.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"A bit ugly, eh? Don't fuss, man. It's all in the day's work."</p>
+
+<p>With that I desired my driver to pull up, and waved my hand to the
+others, motioning to them that the road was theirs.</p>
+
+<p>But when I stopped they stopped, and the Colonel jeered. When I drove
+on they came along too, laughing. We did this several times; and when
+at the two roads just through Hospenthal, one by the St. Gothard, the
+other leading to the Furka, I took the first for a short distance,
+then turned back, just to try my pursuers. They still stuck to me. My
+heart sank within me. I was in this accursed soldier's claws. He had
+collared me, he was on my back, and I felt that I must throw up the
+sponge.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave you fair notice that you would not get rid of me, and by
+heaven you shall not," he cried fiercely, putting off all at once the
+lighter mockery of his tone. "I know what is taking you to Brieg. You
+think to find your confederate there, and you hope that, combined, the
+two of you will get the better of that lady. You sha'n't, not if I can
+prevent you by any means in my power; understand that, and look out
+for squalls if you try."</p>
+
+<p>I confess he cowed me; he was so strong, so  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> masterful, and, as I
+began to fear, so unscrupulous, that I felt I could not make head
+against him. Certainly not alone. I must have Tiler's help, his
+counsel, countenance, active support. I must get in touch with him at
+the earliest possible moment and my nearest way to him, situated as I
+was now, must be at or through Brieg.</p>
+
+<p>So I resigned myself to my fate, and suffered myself to be driven on
+with my pertinacious escort hanging on to me mile after mile of my
+wearing and interminable journey. We pulled up for luncheon and a
+short rest at the Furka; again in the afternoon at the Rhone Glacier.
+Then we pursued our way all along the valley, with the great snow peak
+of the Matterhorn in front of us, through village and hamlet, in the
+fast fading light, and so on under the dark but luminous sky into
+Munster, Fiesch, and Morel, till at length we rolled into Brieg about
+11 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span></p>
+
+<p>I drove straight to the H&ocirc;tel de la Poste, careless that my tormentors
+were accompanying me; they could do me no more harm, and Tiler was at
+hand to help in vindicating our position.</p>
+
+<p>There was no Tiler at the H&ocirc;tel de la Poste;  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> no Tiler in Brieg. Only
+a brief telegram from him conveying unwelcome and astounding
+intelligence. It had been despatched from Vevey about 2 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>,
+and it said:</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">"Lost her somewhere between this and Lausanne. Am trying back. Shall
+wire you again to Brieg. Wait there or leave address."</p>
+
+<p>My face must have betrayed my abject despair. I was so completely
+knocked over that I offered no opposition when the Colonel impudently
+took the telegram out of my hand and read it coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"Drawn blank!" he cried, unable to contain himself for joy. "By the
+Lord Harry, that's good."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>[<i>The Statement of the Second Detective</i>, <i><br />
+Ludovic Tiler</i>.]</h3>
+
+
+<p>I travelled via Ostend, Brussels and Strasburg, and was due at Basle
+from that side at 4.35 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> My instructions were to look out
+for Falfani there, and thought I might do so if our train was fairly
+punctual, as it was. We were "on time," and the answer to my first
+question was that the Lucerne express was still at the platform, but
+on the point of departure.</p>
+
+<p>I got one glimpse of Falfani and one word with him. He was in trouble
+himself; they had nipped him, caught him tight, and thrown him off the
+scent. I was now to take up the running.</p>
+
+<p>"You've got your chance now, Ludovic," he said hurriedly, as he leaned
+out of the carriage window. "I'm not jealous, as you often are, but
+it's deuced hard on me. Anyhow, stick to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> her like wax, and keep your
+eyes skinned. She's got the wiles of the devil, and will sell you like
+a dog if you don't mind. Hurry now; you'll pick her up in the
+waiting-room or restaurant, and can't miss her."</p>
+
+<p>He gave me the description, and I left him, promising him a wire at
+the telegraph office, Lucerne. He was right, there was no mistaking
+her. Few people were about at that time in the morning, and there was
+not a soul among the plain-headed, commonplace Swiss folk to compare
+with her, an English lady with her belongings.</p>
+
+<p>She was quite a beauty, tall, straight, lissom, in her tight-fitting
+ulster; her piquante-looking heather cap perched on chestnut curls,
+and setting off as handsome a face as I have ever seen. And I have
+seen and admired many, for I don't deny that I've a strong penchant
+for pretty women, and this was the pick of the basket. It was rather a
+bore to be put on to her in the way of business; but why should I not
+get a little pleasure out of it if I could? I need not be
+disagreeable; it might help matters and pass the time pleasantly, even
+if in the end I might have to show my teeth.</p>
+
+<p>I saw her looking me over as I walked into  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> the waiting-room,
+curiously, critically, and for a moment I fancied she guessed who I
+was. Had she seen me talking to Falfani?</p>
+
+<p>If so&mdash;if she thought me one of her persecutors&mdash;she would hardly look
+upon me without repugnance, yet I almost believed it was all the other
+way. I had an idea that she did not altogether dislike me, that she
+was pleased with my personal appearance. Why not? I had had my
+successes in my time, and may say, although it sounds conceited, that
+I had won the approval of other ladies quite as high-toned. By and by
+it might be my unpleasant duty to be disagreeable. In the meantime it
+would be amusing, enjoyable, to make friends.</p>
+
+<p>So far I had still to ascertain the direction in which she was bound.
+She had taken her ticket. That might be safely inferred, for she was
+in the waiting-room with her porter and her bags, ready to pass out
+upon the platform as soon as the doors were opened. (Everyone knows
+that the idiotic and uncomfortable practice still prevails in
+Switzerland of shutting passengers off from the train till the very
+last moment.)</p>
+
+<p>This waiting-room served for many lines, and I could only wait
+patiently to enter the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> particular train for which she would be
+summoned. When at length an official unlocked the door and announced
+the train for Biel, Neuch&acirc;tel, Lausanne, and Brieg, she got up to take
+her seat, and I had no longer any doubt as to the direction of her
+journey. So as I saw her go, I slipped back to the ticket-office and
+took my place all the way to Brieg, the furthest point on the line.
+This was obviously my best and safest plan, as I should then be ready
+for anything that happened. I could get out anywhere, wherever she
+did, in fact. After getting my ticket I found time to telegraph to
+Falfani at Lucerne, giving him my latest news, and then proceeded to
+the train.</p>
+
+<p>I found the lady easily enough, and got into the same carriage with
+her. It was one of those on the Swiss plan, with many compartments
+opening into one another <i>en suite</i>. Although the seat I chose was at
+a discreet distance, I was able to keep her in view.</p>
+
+<p>I was wondering whether it would be possible for me to break the ice
+and make her acquaintance, when luck served me better than I dared to
+hope. One of the Swiss guards of the train, a surly, overbearing
+brute, like so many others of his class, accosted her rudely, and from
+his  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> gestures was evidently taking her to task as to the number and
+size of her parcels in the net above. He began to shift them, and,
+despite her indignant protests in imperfect German, threw some of them
+on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>This was my opportunity. I hurried to the rescue, and, being fluent in
+German as in several other languages&mdash;it is part of my stock in
+trade&mdash;I sharply reproved the guard and called him an unmannerly boor
+for his cowardly treatment of an unprotected lady. My reward was a
+sweet smile, and I felt encouraged to hazard a few words in reply to
+her cordial thanks. She responded quickly, readily, and I thought I
+might improve the occasion by politely inquiring if I could be of any
+further service to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you can tell me, you see I am strange on this line," she
+answered with a perfectly innocent air, "do you happen to know at what
+time we are due at Lausanne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to the minute," I replied. "I have a railway guide in my bag,
+shall I fetch it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I should not like to give you so much trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"But it will be no trouble. Let me fetch my bag."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> </p>
+
+<p>I went off in perfect good faith, anxious to oblige so charming a
+lady. I had not the slightest suspicion that she was playing with me.
+Silly ass that I was, I failed to detect the warning that dropped from
+her own lips.</p>
+
+<p>When I got back with the Bradshaw I came upon them for just one moment
+unawares. The maid must have been making some remarks displeasing to
+my lady, who was answering her with much asperity.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what I am doing, Philpotts. Be so good as to leave it to me.
+It is the only way."</p>
+
+<p>Then she caught sight of me as I stood before her, and her manner
+instantly changed. She addressed me very sweetly and with the utmost
+composure. "Oh, how very good of you, I feel quite ashamed of myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you? It is delightful to be of use to you. Lausanne I
+think you said?" I asked casually as I turned over the pages of the
+guide. "You are going to Lausanne?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Vevey to Montreux. I only wanted to know whether there would be
+time for <i>d&eacute;jeuner</i> at Lausanne. I think there is no dining-car on
+this train?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is on the next, which is extraordinarily  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> bad mismanagement.
+It is a slow train the next, and we are a special express. But you
+will have a clear half-hour to spare at Lausanne. That will be enough,
+I presume? Lausanne at 12 noon, and we go on at half-past."</p>
+
+<p>"You, too, are going beyond Lausanne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly, I am not quite sure. It depends upon my meeting friends
+somewhere on the lake, either there or further on. If they come on
+board we shall run on to Brieg so as to drop over the Alps to Lake
+Maggiore by the Simplon route."</p>
+
+<p>I threw this out carelessly but with deliberate intention, and the
+shot told. A crimson flush came over her face and her hands trembled
+violently. I had not the smallest doubt that this was her plan also.
+She was bound to cross over into Italy, that we knew, or our employers
+firmly believed it, and as she had been driven off the St. Gothard by
+Falfani she had now doubled back by Switzerland to make the journey to
+Brieg and across the mountains by road.</p>
+
+<p>I had scored as I thought, but I forgot that in gaining the knowledge
+I had betrayed my own intentions, and put her upon her guard. I was to
+pay for this.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Oh, really," she said quietly and with polite interest, having
+entirely recovered her composure. "I dare say a very pleasant drive.
+How long does it take, have you any idea, and how do you travel?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is about nine hours by diligence," I said, consulting the
+Bradshaw, "and the fare is forty francs, but by private carriage or
+extra post a good deal more."</p>
+
+<p>"May I look?" and I handed her the book, "although I never could
+understand Bradshaw," she added pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be very pleased to explain if you are in doubt," I suggested;
+but she declined laughingly, saying it would amuse her to puzzle out
+things, so I left her the book and composed myself into a corner while
+the train rattled on. I mused and dozed and dreamily watched her
+pretty face admiringly, as she pored over the pages of the Guide,
+little thinking she was perfecting a plan for my undoing.</p>
+
+<p>The first stop was at Biel or Bienne, its French name, and there was a
+halt of ten minutes or more. I made my way to the telegraph office in
+the station, where to my great satisfaction I found a message from
+Falfani, informing me that he should make the best of  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> his way to
+Brieg, unless I could suggest something better.</p>
+
+<p>The answer I despatched at once to Goeschenen was worded as follows:
+"Declares she is going to Montreux only. Believe untrue. Still think
+her destination Brieg. Come on there anyhow and await further from me.
+May be necessary to join forces." We were in accord, Falfani and I,
+and in communication.</p>
+
+<p>I was well satisfied with what we were doing, and on receiving the
+second and third telegrams at Neuch&acirc;tel and Yverdun I was all the more
+pleased. At last we were nearing Lausanne, and I looked across to my
+lady to prepare her for getting out. I had no need to attract her
+attention, for I caught her eyes fixed on me and believe she was
+watching me furtively. The smile that came upon her lips was so
+pleasant and sweet that it might have overjoyed a more conceited man
+than myself.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we near then? Delightful! I never was so hungry in my life," and
+the smile expanded into a gay laugh as she rose to her feet and was
+ready to leave the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you will have to wait, Philpotts, we cannot leave that,"
+she pointed to the child nestling sound asleep by her side. "But I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span>
+will send or bring you something. This gentleman will perhaps escort
+me to the refreshment-room."</p>
+
+<p>I agreed, of course, and saying, "Only too charmed," I led the way&mdash;a
+long way, for the restaurant is at the far end of the platform. At
+last we sat down <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i> and prepared to do full justice to the
+meal. Strange to say, despite her anticipations, she proved to have
+very little appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"I must have waited too long," she said, as she trifled with a cutlet.
+"I shall perhaps like something else better," and she went carefully
+through the whole <i>menu</i>, so that the time slipped away, and we were
+within five minutes of departure.</p>
+
+<p>"And poor dear Philpotts, I had quite forgotten her. Come and help me
+choose," and in duty bound I gallantly carried the food back to the
+train.</p>
+
+<p>I walked ahead briskly, and making my way to the places where we had
+left the maid and child, jumped in.</p>
+
+<p>They were gone, the two of them. Everything was gone, rugs, bags,
+belongings, people. The seats were empty, and as the compartment  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> was
+quite empty, too, no one could tell me when they had left or where
+they had gone.</p>
+
+<p>I turned quickly round to my companion, who was, I thought, following
+close at my heels, and found to my utter amazement that she also had
+disappeared.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>For the moment I was dazed and dumfounded, but I took a pull on myself
+quickly. It was a clever plant. Had they sold me completely? That was
+still to be seen. My one chance was in prompt action; I must hunt them
+up, recover trace of them with all possible despatch, follow them, and
+find them wherever they might be.</p>
+
+<p>There was just the chance that they had only moved into another
+carriage, thinking that when I missed them I should get out and hunt
+for them in the station. To counter that I ran up and down the train,
+in and out of the carriages, questing like a hound, searching
+everywhere. So eager was I that I neglected the ordinary warnings that
+the train was about to start; the guard's <i>fertig</i> ("ready"), the
+sounding horn, the answering engine whistle, I overlooked them all,
+and we moved on before I could descend. I made as though to jump off
+hastily, but was prevented.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"<i>Was ist das? Nein, nein, verboten.</i>" A hand caught me roughly by the
+collar and dragged me back. It was the enemy I had made in championing
+my lady, the guard of the train, who gladly seized the chance of being
+disagreeable to me.</p>
+
+<p>I fought hard to be free, but by the time I had shaken him off the
+speed had so increased that it would have been unsafe to leave the
+train. I had no choice but to go on, harking back as soon as I could.
+Fortunately our first stop was within five and twenty minutes, at
+Vevey; and there in ten minutes more I found a train back to Lausanne,
+so that I had lost less than an hour and a half in all.</p>
+
+<p>But much may happen in that brief space of time. It was more than
+enough for my fugitives to clear out of the Lausanne station and make
+some new move, to hide away in an out-of-the-way spot, go to ground in
+fact, or travel in another direction.</p>
+
+<p>My first business was to inquire in and about the station for a person
+or persons answering to the parties I missed. Had they separated,
+these two women, for good and all? That was most unlikely. If the maid
+had gone off first, I had to consider whether they would not again
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> join forces as soon as I was well out of the way. They would surely
+feel safer, happier, together, and this encouraged me to ask first for
+two people, two females, a lady and her servant, one of them, the
+latter, carrying a child.</p>
+
+<p>There were many officials about in uniform, and all alike supercilious
+and indifferent, after the manner of their class, to the travelling
+public, and I could get none to take the smallest interest in my
+affairs. One shrugged his shoulders, another stared at me in insolent
+silence, a third answered me abruptly that he was too occupied to
+bother himself, and a fourth peremptorily ordered me not to hang any
+longer about the station.</p>
+
+<p>Foiled thus by the railway staff&mdash;and I desire to place on record here
+my deliberate opinion after many years' experience in many lands, that
+for rudeness and overbearing manners the Swiss functionary has no
+equal in the whole world&mdash;I went outside the station and sought
+information among the cabmen and touts who hang about waiting to take
+up travellers. I accosted all the drivers patiently one by one, but
+could gather nothing definite from any of them. Most had been on the
+stand at the arrival of the midday train, many had been  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> engaged to
+convey passengers and baggage up into the town of Lausanne, and had
+deposited their fares at various hotels and private residences, but no
+one had driven any party answering to those of whom I was in search.</p>
+
+<p>This practically decided the point that my lady had not left the
+station in a carriage or openly, if she had walked. But that she had
+not been observed did not dispose of the question. They were dull,
+stupid men, these, only intent on their own business, who would pay
+little attention to humble persons on foot showing no desire to hire a
+cab. I would not be baffled thus soon in my quest. A confidential
+agent who will not take infinite pains in his researches had better
+seek some other line of business. As I stood there in front of the
+great station belonging to the Jura-Simplon, I saw facing me a small
+fa&ccedil;ade of the Gare Sainte Luce, one of the intermediate stations on
+the <i>Ficelle</i> or cable railway that connects Ouchy on the lake with
+Lausanne above.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a hundred yards distant; it could be easily and quickly
+reached, and without much observation, if a person waited till the
+immediate neighbourhood had been cleared by the general exodus after
+the arrival of the chief  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> express of the day. There were any number of
+trains by this <i>funiculaire</i>&mdash;at every half-hour indeed&mdash;and any one
+taking this route could reach either Lausanne or Ouchy after a very
+few minutes' journey up or down. To extend my investigation on that
+side was of obvious and pressing importance. I was only too conscious
+of my great loss of time, now at the outset, which might efface all
+tracks and cut me off hopelessly from any clue.</p>
+
+<p>I was soon across and inside the Sainte Luce station, but still
+undecided which direction I should choose, when the little car arrived
+going upward, and I ran over to that platform and jumped in. I must
+begin one way or the other, and I proceeded at once to question the
+conductor, when he nicked my ticket, only to draw perfectly blank.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I seen two ladies and a child this morning? But, <i>grand Dieu</i>, I
+have seen two thousand. It is <i>idiote</i> to ask such questions,
+monsieur, of a busy man."</p>
+
+<p>"I can pay for what I want," I whispered gently, as I slipped a
+five-franc piece into his hand, ever mindful of the true saying,
+<i>Point d'argent, point de Suisse</i>; and the bribe entirely changed his
+tone.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"A lady, handsome, tall, distinguished, <i>comme il faut</i>, with a
+companion, a servant, a nurse carrying a child?" He repeated my
+description, adding, "<i>Parfaitement</i>, I saw her. She was not one to
+forget quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"And she was going to Lausanne?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ma foi</i>, yes, I believe so; or was it to Ouchy?" He seemed
+overwhelmed with sudden doubt. "Lausanne or Ouchy? Up or down? Twenty
+thousand thunders, but I cannot remember, not&mdash;" he dropped his
+voice&mdash;"not for five francs."</p>
+
+<p>I doubled the dose, and hoped I had now sufficiently stimulated his
+memory or unloosed his tongue. But the rascal was still hesitating
+when we reached the top, and I could get nothing more than that it was
+certainly Lausanne, "if," he added cunningly, "it was not Ouchy." But
+he had seen her, that was sure&mdash;seen her that very day upon the line,
+not more than an hour or two before. He had especially admired her;
+<i>dame</i>! he had an eye for the <i>beau sexe</i>; and yet more he noticed
+that she talked English, of which he knew some words, to her maid. But
+whether she was bound to Lausanne or Ouchy, "<i>diable</i>, who could
+say?"</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> </p>
+
+<p>I had got little in return for my ten francs expended on this
+ambiguous news, but now that I found myself actually in Lausanne I
+felt that it behoved me to scour the city for traces of my quarry. She
+might not have come here at all, yet there was an even chance the
+other way, and I should be mad not to follow the threads I held in my
+hand. I resolved to inquire at all the hotels forthwith. It would take
+time and trouble, but it was essential. I must run her to ground if
+possible, fix her once more, or I should never again dare to look my
+employers in the face. I was ashamed to confess to Falfani that I had
+been outwitted and befooled. I would send him no more telegrams until
+I had something more satisfactory to say.</p>
+
+<p>I was now upon the great bridge that spans the valley of the Flon and
+joins the old with the new quarter of Lausanne. The best hotels, the
+Gibbon, Richemont, Falcon, Grand Pont, and several more, stood within
+easy reach, and I soon exhausted this branch of the inquiry. I found a
+<i>valet de place</i> hanging about the Gibbon, whose services I secured,
+and instructed him to complete the investigation, extending it to all
+the minor hotels and pensions, some half-dozen more, reserving to
+myself the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> terminus by the great station, which I had overlooked when
+leaving for the <i>Ficelle</i> or cable railway. I meant to wait for him
+there to hear his report, but at the same time I took his
+address&mdash;Eug&egrave;ne Falloon, Rue Pr&eacute; Fleuri&mdash;where I could give him an
+appointment in case I missed him at the terminus. He was a long, lean,
+hungry-looking fellow, clumsily made, with an enormous head and
+misshapen hands and feet; but he was no fool this Falloon, and his
+local knowledge proved exceedingly useful.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the car for the journey down I came upon the conductor who
+had been of so little use to me, and I was about to upbraid him when
+he disarmed me by volunteering fresh news.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but, monsieur, I know much better now. I recollect exactly. The
+lady with her people certainly went down, for I have seen a porter who
+helped her with her effects from the line to the steamboat pier at
+Ouchy."</p>
+
+<p>"And on board the steamer? Going in which direction?" I asked eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"He shall tell you himself if I can find him when we reach the
+terminus. It may not be easy, but I could do it if&mdash;"</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Another and a third five-franc piece solved his doubts, and I
+abandoned my visit to the terminus hotel to seize this more tangible
+clue, and proceeded at once to the lake shore.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>On reaching the steamboat pier I was introduced to the porter, a
+shock-headed, stupid-looking creature, whom I forthwith questioned
+eagerly; but elicited only vague and, I felt sure, misleading replies.
+The conductor assisted at my interview, stimulating and encouraging
+the man to speak, and overdid it, as I thought. I strongly suspected
+that this new evidence had been produced in order to bleed me further.
+Had he really seen this English lady? Would he describe her appearance
+to me, and that of her companion? Was she tall or short? Well dressed,
+handsome, or the reverse? What was her companion like? Tall or short?
+How dressed, and did he suppose her condition to be that of a lady
+like the other, equal in rank, or an inferior?</p>
+
+<p>The answers I got were not encouraging. Ladies? Of course they were
+ladies, both of them. Dressed? In the very latest fashion. They were
+very distinguished people.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Were they carrying anything, either of them?" I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, when I saw them first they had much baggage. It was for that
+they summoned me. Handbags, <i>sacs de nuit</i>, rugs, wrappers,
+bonnet-boxes, many things, like all travellers."</p>
+
+<p>"And you noticed nothing big, no parcel for which they were
+particularly concerned?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were anxious about everything, and worried me about everything,
+but about no one thing especially that I can remember."</p>
+
+<p>This did not tally with my own observation and the extreme care taken
+of the child in the woman's arms. I began to believe that my friend
+was a humbug and could tell me nothing of his own knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>"What time was it?" I went on.</p>
+
+<p>"Some hours ago. I did not look at the clock."</p>
+
+<p>"But you know by the steamers that arrive. You men must know which are
+due, and when they pass through."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, Antoine," broke in the conductor, determined to give him
+a lead, "you must know that; there are not so many. It would be about
+2 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, wouldn't it, when the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> express boat comes from Vevey
+and Bouveret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I make no doubt of that," said the man, with a gleam of
+intelligence upon his stolid face.</p>
+
+<p>"And the ladies went on board it, you say? Yes? You are sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must have been so; I certainly carried their traps on board."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, are you quite positive it was the two o'clock going that way,
+and not the quarter past two returning from Geneva?" I had my Bradshaw
+handy, and was following the timetable with my fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"The 2.15?" The gleam of light went out entirely from his stolid face.
+"I have an idea you are right, sir. You see the two boats come in so
+near each other and lie at the same pier. I could easily make a
+mistake between them."</p>
+
+<p>"It is my firm belief," I said, utterly disgusted with the fellow, "my
+firm belief that you have made a mistake all through. You never saw
+the ladies at all, either of you." I turned upon the conductor with a
+fierce scowl. "You are a rank humbug; you have taken my money under
+false pretences. I've a precious  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> good mind to report you to your
+superiors, and insist upon your refunding the money. You've swindled
+me out of it, thief and liar that you are."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, don't speak so freely. My superiors will always listen
+first to one of their own employ&eacute;s, and it will be awkward if I charge
+you with obstructing an official and making false charges against
+him."</p>
+
+<p>Mine is a hasty temper; I am constrained to confess to a fault which
+often stood in my way especially in my particular business. The
+conductor's insolence irritated me beyond measure, and coming as it
+did on the top of bitter disappointment I was driven into a deplorable
+access of rage, which I shall always regret. Without another word I
+rushed at him, caught him by the throat, and shook him violently,
+throwing him to the ground and beating his head upon it savagely.</p>
+
+<p>Help must have come to him very speedily and to good purpose, for I
+soon found myself in custody, two colossal gendarmes holding me tight
+on each side. I was quickly removed like any malefactor to the lock-up
+in the town above, and was thus for the moment effectively precluded
+from continuing my pursuit.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Law and order are not to be lightly trifled with in Switzerland, least
+of all in the Canton de Vaud. I had been taken in the very act of
+committing a savage assault upon an official in the execution of his
+duty, which is true to the extent that every Swiss official conceives
+it to be his duty to outrage the feelings and tyrannize over
+inoffensive strangers.</p>
+
+<p>The police of Lausanne showed me little consideration. I was not
+permitted to answer the charge against me, but was at once consigned
+to a cell, having been first searched and despoiled of all my
+possessions. Among them was my knife and a pocket revolver I generally
+carried, also my purse, my wallet with all my private papers, and my
+handbag. Both wallet and handbag were locked; they demanded the keys,
+thinking I had them hidden on my person, but I said they could find
+them for themselves, the truth being the locks were on a patent plan
+and could be opened with the fingers by any one who knew. This secret
+I chose to retain.</p>
+
+<p>When alone in my gloomy prison, with leisure to reflect more calmly on
+my painful position, I realized what an ass I had been, and I vented
+my wrath chiefly on myself. But it  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> was idle to repine. My object now
+was to go free again at the earliest possible moment, and I cast about
+to see how I might best compass it.</p>
+
+<p>At first I was very humble, very apologetic. I acknowledged my error,
+and promised to do anything in my power to indemnify my victim. I
+offered him any money in reason, I would pay any sum they might fix,
+pay down on the nail and give my bond for the rest.</p>
+
+<p>My gaolers scouted the proposal indignantly. Did I think justice was
+to be bought in Switzerland? It was the law I had outraged, not an
+individual merely. Besides&mdash;money is all powerful in this venal
+country&mdash;how could I pay, a poor devil like me, the necessary price?
+what could I produce in cash on the nail? My bond would not be worth
+the paper it was written on.</p>
+
+<p>No, no, there was no chance for me; nothing could save me. I must go
+before the correctional police and pay in person for my offence. I
+might expect to be punished summarily, to be sent to gaol, to be laid
+by the heels for a month or two, perhaps more. Such a brutal assault
+as mine would be avenged handsomely.</p>
+
+<p>Now I changed my tactics. I began to bluster.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> I was a British subject
+and claimed to be treated with proper respect. I appealed to the
+British Consul; I insisted upon seeing him. When they laughed at me,
+saying that he would not interfere with the course of justice on
+behalf of such an unknown vagabond, I told them roundly that I was
+travelling under the special protection of the British Minister for
+Foreign Affairs, the illustrious Marquis of Lansdowne. Let them bring
+me my wallet. I would show them my passport bearing the Royal Arms and
+the signature of one of H.M. Secretaries of State. All of us in the
+employ of Messrs. Becke invariably carried Foreign Office passports as
+the best credentials we could produce if we were caught in any tight
+place.</p>
+
+<p>The greeting of so great a personage to his trusty and well beloved
+Ludovic Tiler had a very marked effect upon my captors. It was
+enhanced by the sight of a parcel of crisp Bank of England notes lying
+snugly in the pocket of the wallet, which I had opened, but without
+betraying the secret of the spring. When I extracted a couple of
+fivers and handed them to the chief gaoler, begging him to do the best
+for my comfort, the situation changed considerably, but no hopes were
+held out for my  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> immediate release. I was promised dinner from a
+restaurant hard by, and was permitted to send a brief telegram to
+Falfani, to the effect that I was detained at Lausanne by unforeseen
+circumstances, but no more. Then bedding was brought in, on which,
+after a night in the train, I managed to sleep soundly enough until
+quite late next morning.</p>
+
+<p>I had summoned Eug&egrave;ne Falloon to my assistance, and he was permitted
+to visit me quite early, soon after the prison had opened. He was
+prompt and practical, and proceeded to perform the commissions I gave
+him with all despatch. I charged him first to telegraph to England, to
+our office, briefly stating my quandary, begging them to commend me to
+some one in Lausanne or Geneva, for Becke's have friends and
+correspondents in every city of the world. He was then to call upon
+the British Consul, producing my passport in proof of my claim upon
+him as a British subject in distress, and if necessary secure me legal
+advice. I had been warned that I might expect to be examined that very
+day, but that several were likely to elapse before the final disposal
+of my case.</p>
+
+<p>All that forenoon, and quite late into the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> next day, I was left
+brooding and chafing at my misfortune, self-inflicted I will confess,
+but not the less irksome to bear. I had almost persuaded myself that I
+should be left to languish here quite friendless and forgotten, when
+the luck turned suddenly, and daylight broke in to disperse my gloomy
+forebodings. Several visitors came, claiming to see me, and were
+presently admitted in turn. First came the Consul, and with him an
+intelligent Swiss advocate, who declared he would soon put matters
+right. It would only be a question of a fine, and binding me over to
+good behaviour on bail. Could I find bail? That was the only question.
+And while we still discussed it we found amongst the callers a
+respectable and well-to-do watchmaker from Geneva, who had been
+entreated (no doubt from Becke's) to do all that was needful on my
+behalf. I might be of good cheer; there was no reasonable doubt but
+that I should be released, but hardly before next day.</p>
+
+<p>A second night in durance was not much to my taste, but I bore it with
+as much resignation as I could command; and when next morning I
+appeared before the Court, I paid my fine  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> of one hundred francs with
+hearty good-will. I assured my bail, the friendly watchmaker, that he
+need not have the smallest fear I should again commit myself.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>My spirits rose with my release, but there was still more than freedom
+to encourage my light-heartedness. I heard now and definitely of my
+fugitive lady. Falloon had come upon undoubted evidence that she had
+never left the great Jura-Simplon station, but had remained quietly
+out of sight in the "ladies' waiting-room" until the next train left
+for Geneva. This was at 1.35 p.m., and she must have slipped away
+right under my eyes into the very train which had brought me back from
+Vevey. So near are the chances encountered in such a profession as
+ours.</p>
+
+<p>Falloon had only ascertained this positively on the second day of my
+detention, but with it the information that only two first-class
+tickets, both for Geneva, had been issued by that train. To make it
+all sure he had taken the precaution to ask at all the stations along
+the line at which the train had stopped, seven in number, and had
+learned that no persons  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> answering to my ladies had alighted at any of
+them. So my search was carried now to Geneva, and it might be possible
+to come upon my people there, although I was not oversanguine. I knew
+something of the place. I had been there more than once, had stayed
+some time, and I knew too well that it is a city with many issues,
+many facilities for travelling, and, as they had so much reason for
+moving on rapidly, the chances were that they would have already
+escaped me.</p>
+
+<p>However, with Falloon I proceeded to Geneva without delay, and began a
+systematic search. We made exhaustive inquiries at the Cornavin
+station, where we arrived from Lausanne, and heard something.</p>
+
+<p>The party had certainly been seen at this very station. Two ladies,
+one tall, the other short, with a baby. They had gone no further then;
+they had not returned to the station since. So far good. But there was
+a second station, the Gare des Vollondes, at the opposite end of the
+city, from which ran the short line to Bouveret on the south shore of
+the lake, and I sent Falloon there to inquire, giving him a rendezvous
+an hour later at the Caf&eacute; de la Couronne on the Quai du Lac. Meanwhile
+I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> meant to take all the hotels in regular order, and began with those
+of the first class on the right bank, the Beau Rivage, the Russie, de
+la Paix, National, Des Bergues, and the rest. As I drew blank
+everywhere I proceeded to try the hotels on the left bank, and made
+for the Pont de Mont Blanc to cross the Rhone, pointing for the
+Metropole.</p>
+
+<p>Now my luck again greatly favoured me. Just as I put my foot upon the
+bridge I saw a figure approaching me, coming from the opposite
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>I recognized it instantly. It was the lady herself.</p>
+
+<p>She must have seen me at the very same moment, for she halted dead
+with the abruptness of one faced with a sudden danger, an opened
+precipice, or a venomous snake under foot. She looked hurriedly to
+right and left, as if seeking some loophole of escape.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment one of the many electric trams that overspread Geneva
+with a network of lines came swinging down the Rue de Mont Blanc from
+the Cornavin station, and slackened speed at the end of the bridge. My
+lady made up her mind then and there, and as it paused she boarded it
+with one quick, agile spring.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> </p>
+
+<p>With no less prompt decision I followed her, and we entered the car
+almost simultaneously.</p>
+
+<p>There were only two seats vacant and, curiously enough, face to face.
+I took my place, not ill pleased, for she had already seen me, and I
+was anxious to know how my sudden reappearance would affect her. It
+was clear she did not relish it, or she would not have turned tail at
+our unexpected meeting.</p>
+
+<p>I had not long to wait. She chose her line at once, and without
+hesitation addressed me, smiling and unabashed. Her self-possession, I
+had almost said her effrontery, took me quite aback.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I am not mistaken?" she began quite coolly. "Have I not to
+thank you for your courtesy in the train a couple of days ago?"</p>
+
+<p>I stammered a halting affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid you must have thought me very rude. I ran off without a
+word, didn't I? The truth was my child had been suddenly taken ill and
+the nurse had to leave the train hurriedly. She had only just time to
+catch me and prevent me from going on. I am sorry. I should have liked
+to say good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"Make no apologies, I beg," I hastened to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> say courteously. But in my
+heart I trembled. What could this mean? Some fresh trick? She was so
+desperately full of guile!</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought you were bound for the other end of the lake," she
+continued. "Do you make a long stay at Geneva?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Do you?" I retorted.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably. I begin to like the place, and I have found very
+comfortable quarters at the H&ocirc;tel Cornavin, near the station. You may
+know it."</p>
+
+<p>Could this be really so? Her perfect frankness amazed me. I could not
+credit it, much less understand it. There was surely some pitfall,
+some trap concealed for my abounding credulity.</p>
+
+<p>"I also propose to stay some days, but am not yet established." I made
+so bold as to suggest that I had a great mind to try her H&ocirc;tel
+Cornavin.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" she replied heartily. "The accommodation is good, nice
+rooms, civil people, decent <i>cuisine</i>. It might suit you."</p>
+
+<p>She could not possibly have been more civil and gracious. Too civil by
+half, a more cautious man might have told himself.</p>
+
+<p>The tram-car by this time had run through  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> the Place Molard, the
+Allemand March&eacute;, and was turning into the Rue de la Corraterie,
+pointing upward for the theatre and the Promenade des Bastions. Where
+was my involuntary companion bound?</p>
+
+<p>She settled the question by getting out at the Place Neuve with a few
+parting words.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a call to make near here. I had forgotten it. Perhaps I may
+hope to see you again. Do try the Cornavin. If so, <i>sans adieu</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Was it good enough? I could not allow her to slip through my fingers
+like this. What if her whole story was untrue, what if there was no
+H&ocirc;tel Cornavin, and no such guests there? I could not afford to let
+her out of my sight, and with one spring I also left the car and,
+catching a last glimpse of her retreating skirts, gave chase.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot say whether she realized that I was following, but she led me
+a pretty dance. In and out, and round and round, by narrow streets and
+dark passages, backwards and forwards, as adroitly as any practised
+thief eluding the hot pursuit of the police. At last she paused and
+looked back, and thinking she had shaken me off (for knowing the game
+well I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> had hastily effaced myself in a doorway) plunged into the
+entrance of a small unpretending hotel in a quiet, retired square&mdash;the
+H&ocirc;tel Pierre Fatio, certainly not the Cornavin.</p>
+
+<p>The door in which I had taken shelter was that of a dark third-rate
+caf&eacute; well suited to my purpose, and well placed, for I was in full
+view of the H&ocirc;tel Pierre Fatio, which I was resolved to watch at least
+until my lady came out again. As I slowly absorbed an absinthe,
+revolving events past and to come, I thought it would be well to draw
+Falloon to me. It was past the hour for our meeting.</p>
+
+<p>I scribbled three lines of a note and despatched it to the Caf&eacute; de la
+Couronne by a messenger to whom I fully described my colleague's
+appearance, desiring him to show the addressed envelope before
+delivery, but having no doubt that it would reach its destination.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Falloon joined me, and as my lady had as yet made no sign, I
+bade him continue the watch, while I left the caf&eacute; openly and
+ostentatiously, so that it might be seen by any one curious to know
+that I had given up the game.</p>
+
+<p>Far from it. I designed only to try the H&ocirc;tel Cornavin to ascertain
+the real facts;  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> and if, as I shrewdly suspected, I had been fooled,
+to return forthwith and rejoin Falloon at the true point of interest,
+taking such further steps as might seem desirable. I was chiefly
+anxious to regain touch and combine forces with Falfani.</p>
+
+<p>There was no mistake, however, at the Cornavin H&ocirc;tel. I had not been
+fooled. I was told directly I asked at the bureau that a Mrs. Blair,
+accompanied by her maid and child, was staying in the house. Could I
+see her? If monsieur would send up his card, it should be given her on
+her return. She was not at home for the moment. (I knew that.) Would
+monsieur call again?</p>
+
+<p>I was slow to congratulate myself on what seemed a point gained, for I
+had still my misgivings, but I would make the most of the chances that
+offered to my hand. I secured a room at the Cornavin H&ocirc;tel, and
+bespoke another for Falfani, whom I should now summon at once. With
+this idea I took the earliest opportunity of telegraphing to him as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">&#8220;Detained by unfortunate <i>contretemps</i> at Lausanne, happily
+surmounted, clue lost and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> regained. Desire your
+co&ouml;peration. Come instantly, H&ocirc;tel Cornavin. She is here.</div>
+
+<p class="blockfor1">
+<span class="smcap">"Ludovic</span>."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I noted the time of despatch, 4.17 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> It would surely reach
+Falfani before the last train left Brieg coming my way, and I hardly
+trusted myself to anticipate the comfort and relief his appearance
+would bring me. Combined we could tie ourselves to our quarry, and
+never let her out of sight until our principals could take over and
+settle the business.</p>
+
+<p>Then hailing a cab, I drove to a point close by where I had left
+Falloon, and found the situation entirely unchanged. No one had come
+out of the H&ocirc;tel Pierre Fatio. Mrs. Blair was paying a very long call,
+and I could not understand it. All the time I was haunted with a vague
+and ever present idea that she meant to sell me. The more I tortured
+my brain to consider how, the less I was able to fathom her
+intentions.</p>
+
+<p>The time ran on, and I thought it would be prudent to return to my own
+hotel. Mrs. Blair might have given us the slip, might have left by
+some other issue, and I felt that my place was at the Cornavin, where
+at least I knew  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> she was staying. Falloon should stand his ground
+where he was, but I fully impressed upon him the importance of the
+duty entrusted to him.</p>
+
+<p>I blessed my stars that I so decided. Mrs. Blair had not returned when
+the <i>table d'h&ocirc;te</i> bell rang at the Cornavin, but I had hardly
+swallowed the first spoonful of soup when Falloon appeared, hot and
+flurried, with very startling news.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Elle se sauve</i>. She is saving herself; she is running away," he
+cried. "Already her carriage enters the station&mdash;without doubt she
+seeks the train for somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>I jumped up, rushed from the room, caught up my hat, and hurried
+across the Square of Place Cornavin into the station. It was a clear
+case of bolt. There she was ahead of me, quite unmistakable, walking
+quickly, with her fine upright figure clad in the same pearl gray
+ulster she had worn in the tram-car. She passed through the open doors
+of the waiting-room on to the platform where the train was waiting
+with engine attached.</p>
+
+<p>"The 7.35 for Culoz and beyond by Amberieu to Paris," I was informed
+on inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>"A double back," I concluded on the spot.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> She had had enough of it,
+and was going home again. In another minute or two she would have
+eluded me once more.</p>
+
+<p>My only chance now lay in prompt action. I, too, must travel by this
+train. To secure a ticket and board it was soon done. I chose a
+carriage at no great distance from that she had entered; a through
+carriage to Ma&ccedil;on, and which I was resolved to watch closely, but yet
+I did not mean to show myself to its occupants if it could be helped.</p>
+
+<p>As we were on the point of starting, I scribbled a few lines on a leaf
+torn from my pocket-book to inform Falfani of my hasty departure and
+the reason for it. This I folded carefully and addressed to him,
+entrusting it to Falloon, who was to seek out my colleague at the
+H&ocirc;tel Cornavin after the arrival of the late train from Brieg, and
+deliver it. At the same time I handed Falloon a substantial fee, but
+desired him to offer his services to Falfani.</p>
+
+<p>I saw no more of the lady. She did not show at Bellegarde when the
+French Customs' examination took place, nor yet at Culoz, and I
+believed she was now committed to the journey northward. But as I was
+dozing in my place and the train slowed on entering  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> Amberieu, the
+guard whom I had suborned came to me with a hurried call.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, monsieur, you must be quick. Madame has descended and is
+just leaving the station. No doubt for the H&ocirc;tel de France, just
+opposite."</p>
+
+<p>There she was indeed with all her belongings. (How well I knew them by
+this time!) The maid with her child in arms, the porter with the light
+baggage.</p>
+
+<p>I quickened my pace and entered the hotel almost simultaneously with
+her. Ranging up alongside I said, not without exultation:</p>
+
+<p>"Geneva was not so much to your taste, then? You have left rather
+abruptly."</p>
+
+<p>"To whom are you speaking, sir?" she replied in a stiff, strange
+voice, assumed, I felt sure, for the occasion. She was so closely
+veiled that I could not see her face, but it was the same figure, the
+same costume, the same air. Lady Blackadder that was, Mrs. Blair as
+she now chose to call herself, I could have sworn to her among a
+thousand.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't do, madame," I insisted. "I'm not to be put off. I know all
+about it, and I've got you tight, and I'm not going to leave go again.
+No fear." <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span>  I meant to spend the night on guard, watching and waiting
+till I was relieved by the arrival of the others, to whom I
+telegraphed without delay.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h4>[<i>Colonel Annesley resumes.</i>]</h4>
+
+<p>I left my narrative at the moment when I had promised my help to the
+lady I found in such distress in the Engadine express. I promised it
+unconditionally, and although there were circumstances in her case to
+engender suspicion, I resolutely ignored them. It was her secret, and
+I was bound to respect it, content to await the explanation I felt
+sure she could make when so minded.</p>
+
+<p>It was at dinner in the dining-car, under the eyes of her persecutor,
+that we arranged to give him the slip at Basle. It was cleverly
+accomplished, I think.</p>
+
+<p>[<i>Here the Colonel gives an account of all that happened between Basle
+and Brieg; and as the incidents have been already described by Falfani
+it is unnecessary to retell them, except to note that Annesley had
+quickly discovered the detective's escape outside Goeschenen and lost
+no time in giving chase.</i>]</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> </p>
+
+<p>As may be supposed I rejoiced greatly on reaching Brieg to find that
+Falfani had been bitterly disappointed. It was plain from the telegram
+that was handed to him on arrival, and which so upset him that he
+suffered me to take it out of his hand and to read it for myself, that
+a friend, his colleague, no doubt, had been checked summarily at
+Lausanne. He said he had lost "her," the lady of course.</p>
+
+<p>I was not altogether happy in my mind about her, for when we had
+parted at Brieg it had been settled that she should take the Simplon
+route through this very place Brieg, at which I now found myself so
+unexpectedly, and I ought to have come upon her or had news of her
+somewhere had her plans been carried out. She certainly had not
+reached Brieg, for with my ally l'Echelle we searched the town for
+news of her that night and again next morning.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was embarrassing. I could decide upon no clear course
+but that of holding on to Falfani and clinging to him with the very
+skin of my teeth; any light must come from or through him, or at least
+by keeping him in full view I might prevent him from doing any more
+mischief.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> </p>
+
+<p>One of us, l'Echelle or myself, continually watched him all that day,
+the third of this curious imbroglio into which I was plunged. At night
+I took the strong and unjustifiable measure of locking him into his
+room.</p>
+
+<p>When he discovered it next morning he was furious, and came straight
+at me open-mouthed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll appeal to the law, I'll denounce you to the authorities, I'll
+charge you with persecution and with false imprisonment. You shall be
+arrested. I'll be rid of you somehow, you shall not stay here, you
+shall leave Brieg."</p>
+
+<p>"With all my heart&mdash;when you do. Have I not told you that already?
+Where you go I go, where you stay I stay."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is most monstrous and abominable. I will not submit to it. You
+have no sort of right to act in this way. Why is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can guess my reasons, surely. Only it is not for your <i>beaux
+yeux</i>; not because I like you. I loathe and detest you. You are a low,
+slimy spy, who richly deserves to be thrashed for bullying a lady."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have you to know, sir, that I am fully entitled to act as I am
+doing," he said with a consequential air. "I am the representative of
+a court of law; I have great people at my  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> back, people who will soon
+bring you to book. Wait a little, we shall see. You'll sing a very
+poor song when you have to do with a nobleman. The Right Honourable
+the Earl of Blackadder will arrive shortly. I hope this very
+afternoon. You can settle it with him, ah! How do you like that, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>I laughed him to scorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Psha, man, you're an ass. I've told you before now what I think of
+Lord Blackadder, and if it be necessary I'll tell him to his face when
+he gets here."</p>
+
+<p>This conversation took place just before the <i>table-d'h&ocirc;te</i> luncheon,
+and immediately afterwards Falfani went out in the direction of the
+railway station. I followed, keeping him in sight on the platform,
+where, by and by, I saw him, hat in hand, bowing obsequiously before a
+passenger who alighted from the incoming train. It would have been
+enough for me had I not already known Lord Blackadder by sight. They
+walked back together to the hotel, and so, at a certain distance, did
+I.</p>
+
+<p>I was lounging about outside the house, wondering what would happen
+next, when a waiter came out to me bearing a card, which he  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> tendered,
+bowing low, more in deference to the card, as I thought, than to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Earl of Blackadder" was the name engraved, and written just below in
+pencil were the words, "would like to speak to Colonel Annesley at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I've no objection," I began, stiffly. I thought the summons a
+trifle too peremptory. "Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>The waiter pointed back to the hotel, and I saw a white, evil face
+glowering at me from a window on the ground floor of the hotel. The
+very look on it stirred my bile. It was an assumption of superiority,
+of concentrated pride and exaggerated authority, as though everyone
+must yield to his lightest wish and humble himself in the dust before
+him. I resented this, and slipping the card carelessly in my pocket, I
+nodded to the waiter, who still stood awaiting my reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Will monsieur come?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No. Tell his lordship he will find me here if he wants me. That will
+do," and I waved him off.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards Lord Blackadder came out. Mahomet came to the
+mountain. I liked his face less than ever. It wore an angry scowl
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> now; his dark eyes glittered balefully under the close-knit eyebrows,
+his lips were drawn down, and the curved nose was like the aggressive
+beak of a bird of prey.</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel Annesley, I understand," he said coldly, contemptuously, just
+lifting one finger towards the brim of his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my name," I responded, without returning the salute.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Lord Blackadder; you will have had my card. I desired to address
+you somewhat more privately than this." He looked round the open yard
+in front of the hotel. "May I hope you will accompany me to my rooms?
+I have to speak to you on a matter that concerns you very closely."</p>
+
+<p>"That I cannot admit. There can be nothing between you and me, Lord
+Blackadder, that concerns me very closely; nothing that the whole
+world may not hear."</p>
+
+<p>"What I have to say might prove very unpleasant to you in the telling,
+Colonel Annesley. You would be well advised in agreeing that our
+interview should be private."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see it, and I must tell you plainly that I do not care one
+jot. Say what you  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> please, my lord, and, if you like, as loud as you
+please, only be quick about it."</p>
+
+<p>"With all my heart, then, if you will have it so. I wish to tell you,
+Colonel Annesley, that you have taken a most unwarrantable liberty in
+mixing yourself up with my affairs."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not aware that I have done so."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not trifle with me, sir. Your conduct is inexcusable,
+ungentlemanlike."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, my lord," I broke in hotly.</p>
+
+<p>"People who forget themselves so far as you have done must accept the
+responsibility of their own actions; and I tell you, here and now,
+that I shall call you to strict account for yours."</p>
+
+<p>The man was trying me hard, but still I strove to keep my temper.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care that for your opinion, and I do not allow that you are a
+judge of what is gentlemanlike. No one would do so who had read the
+public prints lately."</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you, sir, refer to my conduct, or presume to criticize or
+question it?" he burst out.</p>
+
+<p>"Ta, ta, ta! It is a real pleasure to me to tell you what I think of
+you, Lord Blackadder;  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> and as I am ready to give you every
+satisfaction, I shall not stint myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I insist upon satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"By all means. It can be easily arranged. We are within a short step
+of either France or Italy, and in both countries the old-fashioned
+plan of settling affairs of honour is still in force. We shall find
+friendly seconds in the nearest garrison town, and I shall be glad to
+cross the frontier with you whenever you please."</p>
+
+<p>"You talk like the hectoring, swashbuckling bully that you are," he
+cried angrily, but looking rather uncomfortable.... "I will swear the
+peace against you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do so by all means. It would be like you. A man who would descend to
+espionage, who could so cruelly misuse a lady, is capable of anything;
+of making assertions he cannot substantiate, of threatening things he
+dare not do."</p>
+
+<p>"I have the clearest proof of what I say. You have chosen to come into
+my life&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I should be extremely sorry to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you deny that you have sided with my enemies, that you have
+joined and abetted them in a base plot to defraud and rob me of
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> my&mdash;my&mdash;property, of that which I most highly value and cherish of
+all my possessions?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you are talking about, Lord Blackadder, but
+whatever your grievance I tell you candidly that I do not like your
+tone or your manner, and I shall hold no further converse with you."</p>
+
+<p>I turned my back on him and walked away.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay, stay. You must and shall hear me out. I've not done with you."
+He came hurrying after me, following close and raising his voice
+higher and higher. "Your very presence here is an offence. You have no
+right to be here at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that you own all Switzerland, my noble earl?" I answered
+over my shoulder as I walked on. "It is not your ground to warn me
+off."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you you shall not remain here to annoy me and work against me.
+I forbid it, and I will put a stop to it. I give you plain warning."</p>
+
+<p>"You know you are talking nonsense. I shall go my own road, and I defy
+you to do your worst."</p>
+
+<p>Here, when I was on the threshold of the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> hotel, I met Falfani full,
+as he came running out excitedly, holding in his hand the telltale
+blue envelope, which, with his elated air, indicated clearly that he
+had just received important news.</p>
+
+<p>I paused for a moment, hoping he might commit himself, and was
+rewarded by hearing him say aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"It is from Geneva, my lord, from Ludovic Tiler," he began
+indiscreetly, and was angrily silenced by my lord, who called him "a
+triple-dyed idiot," and with a significant gesture towards me bade him
+walk away to some distance from the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>The mischief was done, however, for I had of course heard enough to
+know that the other detective had given signs of life at last, and
+that the report, to judge by Falfani's glee, must be satisfactory. The
+more pleased the other side, the more reason to fear that matters were
+adverse on ours.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It might be thought that I was too hard on my Lord Blackadder, but
+only those few indeed who were unacquainted with the circumstances of
+his divorce would find fault with me. The scandal was quite recent,
+and the Blackadder case had been in everybody's mouth. The papers had
+been full of it, and the proceedings were not altogether to his
+lordship's credit. They had been instituted by him, however, on
+grounds that induced the jury to give him a verdict, and the judge had
+pronounced a decree nisi on the evidence as it stood.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the public sympathies were generally with the respondent, the
+Countess of Blackadder. It had been an unhappy marriage, an
+ill-assorted match, mercenary, of mere convenience, forced upon an
+innocent and rather weak girl by careless and callous guardians, eager
+to rid themselves of responsibility for the two twin sisters, Ladies
+Claire and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> Henriette Standish, orphans, and with no near relations.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Blackadder was immensely rich, but a man of indifferent moral
+character, a <i>rou&eacute;</i> and a voluptuary, with a debilitated constitution
+and an unattractive person, possessing none of the gifts that take a
+maiden's fancy.</p>
+
+<p>Estrangement soon followed the birth of the son and heir to his title
+and great estates. My lord was a great deal older than his beautiful
+young wife, and desperately jealous of her. Distrust grew into strong
+suspicion, and presently consumed him when an old flame of Lady
+Henriette's, Charlie Forrester, of the Dark Horse, turned up from
+foreign service, and their names came to be bracketed together by the
+senseless gossiping busybodies ever ready to tear a pretty woman's
+reputation to tatters. It was so much put about, so constantly dinned
+into Lord Blackadder's ears, that he was goaded into a perfect fury,
+and was at length determined, by hook or by crook, to put away his
+wife, leaving it to certain astute and well-practised solicitors to
+manufacture a clear, solid case against her.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Blackadder, who hated and despised her lord, foolishly played
+into his hands. She  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> never really went wrong, so her friends stoutly
+averred, especially her sister Claire, a staunch and loyal soul, but
+she gave a handle to innuendo, and more than once allowed appearances
+to go against her.</p>
+
+<p>There was one very awkward story that could not be disproved as it was
+told, and in the upshot convicted her. It was clearly shown in
+evidence that she had made up her mind to leave Lord Blackadder; more,
+that she meant to elope with Major Forrester. It was said, but not so
+positively, that she had met him at Victoria Station; they were seen
+there together, had travelled by the same train, and there was a
+strong presumption that they had arrived together at Brighton; one or
+two railway officials deposed to the fact.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Blackadder denied this entirely, and gave a very different
+complexion to the story. She had gone to Brighton; yes, but quite
+alone. Major Forrester had seen her off, no doubt, but they had parted
+at the carriage door. Her visit to Brighton had been for the purpose
+of seeing and staying with an old servant, once a very confidential
+maid for whom she had a great liking, and had often taken refuge with
+when worried and in trouble. She thought,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> perhaps, to make this the
+first stage in the rupture with my lord.</p>
+
+<p>This maid had earnestly adjured her not to break with her husband, and
+to return to Grosvenor Square.</p>
+
+<p>This flight was the head and corner-stone of Lady Blackadder's
+offending. It was interpreted into guilt of the most heinous kind; the
+evidence in support of it seemed overwhelming. Witnesses swore
+positively to the companionship of Major Forrester, both at Victoria
+and Brighton, and it was to be fairly assumed that they were at the
+latter place together.</p>
+
+<p>No rebutting evidence was forthcoming. The maid, a woman married to an
+ex-French or Swiss courier, by name Bruel, could not be produced,
+simply because she could not be found in Brighton. They were supposed
+to be settled there as lodging-house keepers, but they had not resided
+long enough to be in the Directory, and their address was not known.
+Lord Blackadder's case was that they were pure myths, they had never
+had any tangible existence, but were only imported into the case to
+support an ingenious but untenable defence.</p>
+
+<p>It was more than hinted that they had been spirited away, and they
+were not the first  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> material witnesses, it was hinted, in an intricate
+case, conducted by Messrs. Gadecker and Gobye, who had mysteriously
+disappeared. So the plausible, nay, completely satisfactory
+explanation of Lady Blackadder's visit to Brighton could not be put
+forward, much less established, and there was no sort of hope for her.
+She lost her case in the absence of the Bruels, man and wife. The
+verdict was for Lord Blackadder, and he was adjudged to have the care
+and custody of the child, the infant Viscount Aspdale.</p>
+
+<p>I had not the smallest doubt when I realized with whom I had to do
+that the unhappy mother had made a desperate effort to redress her
+wrongs, as she thought them, and had somehow contrived to carry off
+her baby before she could be deprived of it.</p>
+
+<p>I had met her in full flight upon the Engadine express.</p>
+
+<p>What next? Was she to be overtaken and despoiled, legally, of course,
+but still cruelly, separated from her own flesh and blood? The Court
+might order such an unnatural proceeding, but I was moved by every
+chivalrous impulse to give her my unstinting and unhesitating support
+to counteract it.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> </p>
+
+<p>I was full of these thoughts, and still firmly resolved to help Lady
+Blackadder, when l'Echelle, the conductor whose services I still
+retained, sought me out hurriedly, and told me that he believed the
+others were on the point of leaving Brieg.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw Falfani and milord poring over the pages of the <i>Indicateur</i>,
+and heard the word Geneva dropped in a whisper. I think they mean to
+take the next train along the lake shore."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a doubt of it," I assented; "so will we. They must not be allowed
+to go beyond our reach."</p>
+
+<p>When the 6.57 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> for Geneva was due out from Brieg, we,
+l'Echelle and I, appeared on the platform, and our intention to travel
+by it was made plain to Lord Blackadder. The effect upon him was
+painfully manifest at once. He chafed, he raged up and down, grimacing
+and apostrophizing Falfani; once or twice he approached me with
+clenched fists, and I really thought would have struck me at last.
+Seeing me enter the same carriage with him, with the obvious intention
+of keeping him under my eye, he threw himself back among the cushions
+and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> yielded himself with the worst grace to the inevitable.</p>
+
+<p>The railway journey was horribly slow, and it must have been past 11
+<span class="smcap">p.m.</span> before we reached Geneva. We alighted in the Cornavin
+station, and as they moved at once towards the exit I followed. I
+expected them to take a carriage and drive off, and was prepared to
+give chase, when I found they started on foot, evidently to some
+destination close at hand. It proved to be the Cornavin H&ocirc;tel, not a
+stone's-throw from the station.</p>
+
+<p>They entered, and went straight to the bureau, where the night clerk
+was at his desk. I heard them ask for a person named Tiler, and
+without consulting his books the clerk replied angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"Tiler! Tiler! <i>Ma foi</i>, he is of no account, your Tiler. He has gone
+off from the dinner-table and without paying his bill."</p>
+
+<p>"That shall be made all right," replied Lord Blackadder loftily, as he
+detailed his name and quality, before which the employ&eacute; bowed low.
+"And might I ask," his lordship went on, "whether a certain Mrs.
+Blair, a lady with her child and its nurse, is staying in the hotel?"</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"But certainly, milord. They have been here some days. Salon and suite
+No. 17."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate, that's well, Falfani," said Lord Blackadder, with a sigh
+of satisfaction. "But what of your friend Tiler? Thick-headed dolt,
+unable to keep awake, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment a shabbily dressed person approached Falfani, touched
+his hat, and offered him a note, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"This must be for you, monsieur. I heard your name&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"From Tiler, my lord, aha! This explains." And he passed the scrap of
+paper on to his employer.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be hanged if I see it! He says the parties have gone, and that
+he is in close attendance; yet this fellow here," pointing to the
+clerk, "assures us she is in this very house. I don't understand it,
+by Gad!"</p>
+
+<p>"There is some fresh trick, my lord, you may be sure. The devil
+himself isn't half so clever as this fine lady. But we'll get at the
+bottom of it. We shall hear more from Tiler, and we've got the lady
+here, under our hand."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! but have we? This chap's as likely as not to be mistaken. How do
+you know, sir,"  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> to the clerk, "that Mrs. Blair is still in the hotel?
+When did you come on duty? What if she left without your knowing it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It could not be, milord. See, it is marked in the register. No. 17 is
+occupied. I could not let it. Mrs. Blair holds it still."</p>
+
+<p>"But she may not be in it, all the same. Can't you see? She may retain
+it, but not use it."</p>
+
+<p>"Look, my lord, look, there's one of her party, anyway," interposed
+Falfani, and he called his attention to a female figure standing a
+little aloof in the shadow of the staircase, and which I had already
+recognized.</p>
+
+<p>It was Philpotts, "Mrs. Blair's" maid, and she was trying to attract
+my attention. Lord Blackadder had not seen her, and now his eye, for
+the first time, fell upon me. He turned on me furiously.</p>
+
+<p>"You! You! Still at my heels? This is perfectly monstrous. It amounts
+to persecution. You still dare to intrude yourself. Can I have no
+privacy? Take yourself off, or I will not answer for the
+consequences."</p>
+
+<p>I confess I only laughed and still held my ground, although my lord's
+outcry had attracted much attention. Several people ran <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span>  up, and they
+might have sided against me, when I heard a voice whisper into my ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, sir, come. Slip away. My lady is dying to see you. She is
+terribly upset."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I was received with great warmth and cordiality by my friend, and it
+was made clear to me that my opportune appearance brought her great
+comfort and support.</p>
+
+<p>"I never hoped for such good fortune as this," she began heartily. "I
+had no idea you were within miles, and was repining bitterly that I
+had let you get so far out of the way. Now you appear in the very nick
+of time, just when I was almost in despair. But wait. Can I still
+count upon your help?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, most certainly, Lady Blackadder."</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Black&mdash;" She was looking at me very keenly, and, as I thought,
+was much startled and surprised. Then with a conscious blush she went
+on. "Of course, I might have guessed you would penetrate my disguise,
+but you must not call me Lady Blackadder. I can lay no claim to the
+title."</p>
+
+<p>"May I be forgiven if I trench on such a delicate subject, and assure
+you of my most  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> sincere sympathy? Everybody felt for you deeply. I
+hope you will believe that I am, and ever shall be, at your orders and
+devoted to your service."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I am sure of it; I know I can depend upon you fully, and I
+mean to do so now at once. You know, you have heard, that Lord
+Blackadder is here, and actually in this hotel?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came with him. I was watching that fellow, the detective Falfani,
+when his lordship came upon the scene. We had words, a quarrel, almost
+a fight."</p>
+
+<p>"Pfu! He would not fight! I only wish you had thrashed him as he
+deserves. But that won't help matters now. How am I to escape him?"</p>
+
+<p>"With the child?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure. Of course, I do not fear him in the least for myself."</p>
+
+<p>"You want to keep the child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally, as I carried it off."</p>
+
+<p>"And still more because you had the best right to it, whatever the
+Court might direct. You are its mother."</p>
+
+<p>Again she blushed and smiled, rather comically. "I certainly shall not
+surrender it to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> Lord Blackadder, not without a struggle. Yet he is
+very near getting it now."</p>
+
+<p>"In there?" I nodded towards the next room. "It is a close thing. How
+are you to manage it?"</p>
+
+<p>"There would not have been the slightest difficulty; it was all but
+done, and then some one, something, failed me. I expected too much
+perhaps, but I have been bitterly disappointed, and the danger has
+revived."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, Lady Blackadder, keep up your courage. Let us take
+counsel together. We can surely devise some fresh plan. Don't give way
+now; you have been so plucky all through. Be brave still."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Colonel Annesley, I will." She put out her hand with
+enchanting frankness, her fine eyes shining gratefully. A man would
+have dared much, endured much, to win such gracious approval.</p>
+
+<p>"It is getting late, but you must hear all I have to tell before we
+can decide upon the next step. Will you listen to me? I shall not bore
+you. It is a long story. First let me clear the ground a little. I
+must disabuse your mind on one point. I am not Lady Blackadder&mdash;no,
+no, do not misunderstand me&mdash;not on account  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> of the divorce, but I
+never was Lady Blackadder. She was Henriette Standish. I am Claire,
+her sister Claire."</p>
+
+<p>"What a fool I've been!" I cried. "I might have guessed."</p>
+
+<p>"How should you? But let me go on. I shall never forget that
+detestable trial, those awful days in the Divorce Court, when the
+lawyers fought and wrangled over my darling sister, like dogs over a
+bone, tearing and snarling at each other, while the judge sat above
+like a solemn old owl, never moving or making a sign.</p>
+
+<p>"Henriette positively refused to appear in the case, although she was
+pressed and entreated by her legal advisers. She could have thrown so
+much light on the worst and darkest part. She could have repudiated
+the cowardly charges made, and cast back the lies drawn round her to
+ruin her. If the jury had but seen her pretty, pathetic face, and
+heard from her own sweet lips all she had endured, they would have
+come to a very different verdict.</p>
+
+<p>"But she would not come forward on her own behalf. She would not
+defend the action; she did not want to win it, but waited till it was
+all over, hiding herself away in a far-off corner  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> of the Apennines,
+where I was to join her with the child, little Ralph.</p>
+
+<p>"There had been no question of that; the possibility of her losing it
+had never been raised, or she would have nerved herself to fight
+sooner than give up what she valued more than her very life.</p>
+
+<p>"It fell upon me with crushing effect, although towards the end of the
+trial I had had my forebodings. Lord Blackadder was to have the
+custody of his heir, and my dear sweet Henriette was to be robbed for
+ever of her chiefest joy and treasure. The infant child was to be
+abandoned to strangers, paid by its unnatural and unfeeling father.</p>
+
+<p>"I had braced myself to listen to all that came out in court, a whole
+tissue of lies told by perjured wretches whose evidence was accepted
+as gospel&mdash;one of them was the same Falfani whom you know, and who had
+acted the loathsome part of spy on several occasions.</p>
+
+<p>"Directly the judge had issued his cruel fiat, I slipped out, hurried
+down-stairs into the Strand, jumped into a hansom, and was driven at
+top speed to Hamilton Terrace, bent upon  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> giving instant effect to a
+scheme I had long since devised.</p>
+
+<p>"I found my faithful Philpotts awaiting me with everything prepared as
+I had arranged. The dear baby was dressed quickly&mdash;he was as good as
+gold&mdash;the baggage, enough for my hurried journey to Fuentellato, had
+been packed for days past, and we took the road.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that pursuit would not tarry, but I was satisfied that I had
+made a good start, and I hoped to make my way through to Italy without
+interference. When I first saw you at Calais I was seized with a
+terrible fear, which was soon allayed; you did not look much like a
+detective, and you were already my good friend when the real ruffian,
+Falfani, came on board the train at Amiens."</p>
+
+<p>[<i>Lady Claire Standish passed on next to describe her journey from
+Basle to Lausanne, and the clever way in which she eluded the second
+detective&mdash;matters on which the reader has been already informed.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>"On reaching Geneva I at once opened communications with Henriette. I
+felt satisfied, now that I had come so far, it would be well that she
+should join me, and that we should concert together as to our next
+proceedings.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> Our first and principal aim was to retain the child at
+all costs and against all comers. I had no precise knowledge as to
+where we should be beyond the jurisdiction of the English law, but I
+could not believe that the Divorce Court and its emissaries could
+interfere with us in a remote Italian village. My real fear was of
+Lord Blackadder. He was so bold and unscrupulous that, if the law
+would not help him, he would try stratagem, or even force. We should
+be really safe nowhere if we once came within his reach, and, the best
+plan to keep out of his clutches was to hide our whereabouts from him.</p>
+
+<p>"Fuentellato would not do, for although I do not believe he knew the
+exact spot in which Henriette had taken refuge, he must have guessed
+something from the direction of my journey, and that I was on my way
+to join her. If he failed to intercept me <i>en route</i>, he would make
+his way straight there. I had resolved he should not find us, but
+where else should we go? Farther afield, if necessary to the very end
+of the world. Lord Blackadder, we might be sure, would hunt high and
+low to recover his lost heir, sparing no expense, neglecting no means.</p>
+
+<p>"It was, however, essential to elude his  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> agents, who were so near at
+hand and likely to press me close. That was another reason for drawing
+my sister to me. I had hit upon a cunning device, as I thought it, to
+confuse and deceive my pursuers, to throw them on to a false scent,
+lead them to follow a red herring, while the fox, free of the hunt,
+took another line."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"There should be two Richmonds in the field! That was my grand idea.
+Two sets, two parties, each of them consisting of one lady, one maid,
+and one baby, exactly similar and indistinguishable. When the time was
+ripe we should separate, and each would travel in opposite directions,
+and I hoped to show sufficient guile to induce my persecutors to give
+chase to the wrong quarry. Run it to the death, while the party got
+clear away.</p>
+
+<p>"I had made a nice calculation. Fuentellato was at no great distance
+from Parma, on the main line of railway. If she started at once, via
+Piacenza to Turin, she could catch the Mont Cenis express through to
+Modane and Culoz, where she could change for Geneva, so as to reach me
+some time on Tuesday.</p>
+
+<p>"This was exactly what happened. My sister carried out my instructions
+to the letter, and I met her here on arrival. I had taken up my
+quarters in this hotel because it was so near  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> the station, but I
+thought it prudent that Henriette should lodge somewhere else, the
+farther the better, and she went to a small place, the H&ocirc;tel Pierre
+Fatio, at the other end of the town.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a long story, Colonel Annesley, but there is not much more, and
+yet the most interesting part is to come.</p>
+
+<p>"We now devoted ourselves to the practical carrying out of the scheme,
+just we four women; our maids, both clever dressmakers, were of
+immense help. It was soon done. You can buy anything in Geneva. There
+are plenty of good shops and skilful workers, and we soon provided
+ourselves with the clothes, all the disguises really that we
+required&mdash;the long gray dust cloaks and soft hats and all the rest, so
+much alike that we might have been soldiers in the same regiment.
+Philpotts and Victorine, my sister's maid, were also made up on a
+similar pattern, and a second baby was built up as a dummy that would
+have deceived any one.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything was completed by this morning, and I had settled that my
+sister, with her dear little Ralph, should get away, but by quite a
+new route, while I held my ground against  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> the detectives. I felt sure
+they would soon hear of me and run me down. I hoped they would attach
+themselves to me, and meant to lead them a fine dance as a blind for
+Henriette, who, meanwhile, would have crossed to Lyons and gone south
+to Marseilles. The Riviera is a longer and more roundabout road to
+Turin, but it was open, and I hoped unimpeded. What do you think of my
+diplomacy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Admirable!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "Your cleverness, Lady Claire,
+is colossal. Go on, I beg of you. Surely you have succeeded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! no. Everything was cut and dried and this evening we scored the
+first point in the game. Henriette went on this evening to Amberieu,
+the junction for Lyons. She went straight from her hotel, alone, for
+of course I was obliged to keep close, or the trick would have been
+discovered, and it was in part.</p>
+
+<p>"For I must tell you that to-day one of the detectives appeared in
+Geneva, not the first man, but a second, who attached himself to me at
+Basle. I met him plump on the Mont Blanc Bridge and turned tail, but
+he came after me. I jumped into a passing tram, so did he, and to
+throw him off his guard I talked to him, and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> made friends with him,
+and advised him to come and stay at this hotel. Then I got out and
+left him, making my way to the Pierre Fatio H&ocirc;tel by a circuitous
+route, dodging in and out among the narrow streets till I nearly lost
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I had eluded him, and he certainly was nowhere near when I
+went into the hotel. But I suppose he followed me, he must have, and
+found out something, for I know now that he went to Amberieu after
+Henriette&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You are perfectly sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"She has telegraphed to me from Amberieu; I got it not an hour ago.
+The man accosted her, taking her for me. He would have it she was Mrs.
+Blair, and told her to her face that he did not mean to lose sight of
+her again. So you see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If she goes round by Lyons to Marseilles, then, he would be at her
+heels, and the scheme breaks down in that respect?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not only that, I don't see that he could interfere with her, or do
+her much harm, and at Marseilles she might change her plans entirely.
+There are ever so many ways of escape from a seaport. She might take
+ship and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> embark on board the first steamer bound to the East, for
+India or Ceylon, the Antipodes or far Cathay."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Henriette, my sister, has given way. Her courage has failed her at
+this, the most critical moment, when she is within a hair's breadth of
+success. She is afraid to go on alone with little Ralph, and is
+running back to me by the first train to-morrow morning, at five or
+six o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Coming here? Into the very mouths of all the others!"</p>
+
+<p>"Just so, and all my great scheme will be ruined. They cannot but find
+out, and there is no knowing what they may do. Lord Blackadder, I
+know, is capable of anything. I assure you, Colonel Annesley, I am in
+despair. What <i>can</i> I do?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked at me in piteous appeal, the tears brimming over, her hands
+stretched towards me with a gesture at once pathetic and enchanting.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, rather, what can <i>we</i> do, Lady Claire," I corrected her. "This
+is my business, too, if you will allow me to say so, and I offer you
+my advice for what it is worth."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will take it thankfully, I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>"The only safe course now is the boldest. You must make another
+exchange with your sister, Lady Blackadder&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Call her Lady Henriette Standish. She has dropped the other
+entirely."</p>
+
+<p>"By all means. Lady Henriette then has determined to take the first
+train from Amberieu at&mdash;Have you a Bradshaw? Thank you&mdash;at 5.52
+<span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, which will get her to Culoz at 6.48. You must, if
+possible, exchange babies, and at the same time exchange <i>r&ocirc;les</i>. I
+feel sure that you, at any rate, are not afraid of going to Marseilles
+with the real baby."</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly!" she laughed scornfully. "But Henriette&mdash;what is to become of
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>"That shall be my affair. It is secondary, really. The first and
+all-important is for you to secure the little Ralph and escape with
+him. It will have to be done under the very eyes of the enemy, for
+there is every reason to fear they will be going on, too. The other
+detective, this Tiler&mdash;I have heard them call him by that name&mdash;will
+have told them of her ladyship's movements, and will have summoned
+them, Falfani at least, to his side."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"If I go on by that early train they will, no doubt, do the same. I
+must not be seen by them. They would fathom the trick of the two
+parties and the exchange."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you must go on by that train. It's the only way."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I might change my appearance a little, but not enough to
+deceive them. Cannot I go across to the station before them and hide
+in some compartment specially reserved for us?"</p>
+
+<p>"It might be managed. We might secure the whole of the seats."</p>
+
+<p>"Money is no object."</p>
+
+<p>"It will do most things, especially in Switzerland. Leave it to me,
+Lady Claire. All you have to do is to be ready to-morrow morning, very
+early, remember. Before 5 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>"If necessary I'll sit up all night."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, that's settled. I'll knock at your door and see you get
+some coffee."</p>
+
+<p>"Philpotts shall make it; no one in the hotel must know. There will be
+the bill."</p>
+
+<p>"I will see to that. I'll come back after you're ensconced, with the
+blinds drawn. Sick lady on the way, via Culoz to Aix-les-Bains, must
+not be disturbed. It won't matter my  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> being seen on the road, all the
+better really if my lord is there, for I have a little plan of my own,
+Lady Claire&mdash;no, please don't ask me yet&mdash;but it will help matters, I
+think."</p>
+
+<p>"You are, indeed, my true and faithful friend," she said, as she put
+out her hand and wished me good night. She left it in mine for just a
+second, and I flattered myself that its warm pressure was meant to
+assure me that I had established a substantial claim to her regard.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>On leaving Salon No. 17 I descended to the ground floor, seeking the
+smoking-room and a little stimulant to assist me in deciding the best
+course of action for the following day.</p>
+
+<p>As I passed along the corridor I caught sight of l'Echelle, whom I
+considered my man, in close confabulation with Falfani in a quiet
+corner. They could hardly have seen me, at least l'Echelle made no
+reference to the fact when he came to me presently and asked if I had
+any orders for the morning. I answered him sternly:</p>
+
+<p>"What was Falfani saying to you just now? The truth, please, or you
+get nothing more from me."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a <i>vaurien</i> and <i>fain&eacute;ant</i>, and thinks others as bad as
+himself; said my lord would give me five hundred francs to know what
+you were doing, and find out whether the lady who travelled with us to
+Basle last Sunday is here in this house."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"I've no objection to your taking his money if you will tell me
+something. How long does my lord mean to stay here? Have you any
+idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"They all go on by the early train to Culoz or farther. A pressing
+telegram has come from their man at Amberieu."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Indeed. Then you may say that I am also going by that early
+train. They're not going to shake me off very easily. Tell them that,
+and that if they want the lady they'd better look for her. She isn't
+here."</p>
+
+<p>I lied in a good cause, for a lady, as a gentleman is bound to do. I
+shall be forgiven, I think, under the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The free use of coin had the desired effect at the railway station.
+Soon after 5 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> I was met at a private door and escorted,
+with my precious party, by a circuitous route to where the 5.48 was
+shunted, waiting the moment to run back to the departure platform.
+There was a coup&eacute; ready for Lady Claire, and she took her place
+quietly, observed by no one but the obsequious official who had
+managed it all.</p>
+
+<p>As for me, I walked boldly to the hotel and hung about the hall till
+the Blackadder party appeared and had left for the station. Then  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> I
+asked the hotel clerk for Lady Claire's bill, paid it, with my own,
+and went over to the train, selecting a compartment close to the
+coup&eacute;. As I passed it I knocked lightly on the window pane, giving a
+signal previously arranged between us.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think that Lord Blackadder saw me then, at the start. But at
+Bellegarde, the Swiss frontier, where there was a wait of half an hour
+for the Customs examination, an irritating performance always, but
+carried out here with the most maddening and overbearing
+particularity, everyone was obliged to alight from the train, and for
+the moment I trembled for Lady Claire. But the appeal addressed to the
+French brigadier, "<i>un galant homme</i>," of an invalid lady, too ill to
+be disturbed, was effectual, especially when backed by two five-franc
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Blackadder was on the platform with the rest, and directly he saw
+me he came up with the same arrogant air, curiously blended with
+aggrieved helplessness.</p>
+
+<p>"This will end badly, Colonel Annesley. I give you fair warning. I
+shall appeal to the authorities. We shall be on French soil directly,
+and I know something of French law.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> It affords protection to all who
+claim it against such people as you."</p>
+
+<p>"If you talk like that I'll give you some reason to seek the
+protection of the gendarmes or police," I cried, but checked myself at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>I had made up my mind how to deal with him, but the time was not yet.</p>
+
+<p>"Your insolence, sir, outsteps all bounds, and you shall answer for
+it, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>But now the cry was raised "<i>En voiture! en voiture!</i>" and we were
+peremptorily hustled back to our seats. Lord Blackadder hurried to his
+compartment at the end of the train some way from mine and the coup&eacute;.
+As I passed the latter, seeing the road clear, I gave the signal, and,
+taking out my railway carriage key, quickly slipped in.</p>
+
+<p>She received me with her rare sweet smile, that was the richest
+payment a man could ask.</p>
+
+<p>"The critical moment is at hand, Lady Claire," I said, speaking
+mysteriously. "It is essential that we should have a few last words
+together. Naturally we must now be guided very much by the way things
+happen, but so far as possible we must prepare for them. We have
+managed capitally so far. I don't believe Lord Blackadder has any idea
+you are in the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> train, and I much doubt that he expects to find Lady
+Henriette at Culoz. You think she will really be there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I feel sure of it. It is just what she would do."</p>
+
+<p>"Then everything will depend on you. You must be alert and prompt, on
+the <i>qui vive</i> to seize your opportunity. It will be your business to
+make your way to her with the dummy the instant the train stops."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have to find her."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the first and chief thing on your part. You <i>must</i> find her
+at once. There are very few minutes for the whole job. Find her,
+exchange burthens, send her to the train for Aix-les-Bains. It will be
+waiting there. You hurry back to this coup&eacute;, lie low, and, if all goes
+well, you will be travelling on toward Amberieu before the enemy has
+the least notion what has occurred."</p>
+
+<p>"But one word, please. What will the enemy have been doing at Culoz?
+Say they catch sight of Henriette as soon as we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope and trust they may. I count upon that as part of my
+programme."</p>
+
+<p>"But they will catch her, stop her, deprive her of our dear little
+Ralph."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Wait, wait. You will see. It will be settled in a moment now. But
+before it is too late let us arrange how you may communicate with me.
+We shall both be moving about, and the best address I can give will be
+in London. Telegraph to me there to my club, the Mars and Neptune,
+Piccadilly. I will send instructions there to have all telegrams
+opened and retelegraphed to me at once. They shall be kept informed of
+my whereabouts daily. But now, here we are, close to Culoz and already
+slowing down. Look out, please."</p>
+
+<p>It could not have suited me better. There, standing under the shadow
+of the dwarf plane-trees, but with not the slightest suggestion of
+concealment, was the exact counterpart of Lady Claire, her twin
+sister, Lady Henriette Standish, till lately Lady Blackadder. She was
+staring intently at our train as it ran in, deeply anxious, no doubt,
+to note the arrival of her sister.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me a short start," I said to Lady Claire as I jumped out of the
+coup&eacute;. "You will see why."</p>
+
+<p>Even as I spoke I was satisfied that the pursuing party had recognized
+the object of their journey. They had all alighted and were  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> coming up
+the platform in great haste to where she stood. Had any doubt
+remained, it would have been removed by the appearance of a man who
+ran out from some back part of the station and waved them forward with
+much gesticulation.</p>
+
+<p>Here I interposed, and, rushing forward with all the ardour of a
+football player entering a scrimmage, I took Lord Blackadder by the
+throat and shook him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>[<i>Falfani again.</i>]</h3>
+<p>
+When that audacious and intemperate English Colonel so far forgot
+himself as to assault my lord the Right Honourable the Earl of
+Blackadder at Culoz Station in the open light of day before us all, I
+greatly rejoiced; for, although horror-stricken at his ruffianly
+conduct, I knew that he would get his deserts at last. The French
+authorities would certainly not tolerate brawling in the precincts of
+the railway station, and justice must promptly overtake the sole
+offender. The blackguard Colonel, the cause and origin of the
+disturbance, would, of course, be at once arrested and removed.</p>
+
+<p>The fracas had naturally attracted general attention. One or two
+porters ran up and endeavoured, with Tiler and myself, to rescue my
+lord from his cowardly assailant. A crowd quickly gathered around us,
+many passengers and a number of idlers, who drop from  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> nowhere, as it
+might be, all drawn to the spot by overmastering curiosity. Everybody
+talked at the same time, asking questions, volunteering answers, some
+laughing shamelessly at my lord's discomfiture, a few expressing
+indignation, and declaring that such a scandal should not be
+permitted, and the guilty parties held strictly to account.</p>
+
+<p>The gendarmes on duty&mdash;a couple of them are always at hand in a French
+railway station&mdash;soon appeared, and, taking in the situation at the
+first glance, imposed silence peremptorily.</p>
+
+<p>"Let some one, one person only, speak and explain." The brigadier, or
+sergeant, addressed himself to me, no doubt seeing that I had assumed
+a prominent place in the forefront, and seemed a person of importance.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur here," I said, pointing to the Colonel, who, in spite of all
+we could do, still held my lord tight, "was the aggressor, as you can
+see for yourselves. Oblige him, I pray you, to desist. He will do my
+lord some serious injury."</p>
+
+<p>"Is one an English milord, <i>hein</i>? Who, then, is the other?"</p>
+
+<p>"An abominable <i>vaurien</i>," I answered with  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> great heat. "A rank
+villain; one who outrages all decency, breaks every law, respects no
+rank&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Bus, bus</i>," cried the Colonel, in some language of his own, as he
+put me aside so roughly that I still feel the pain in my shoulder.
+"That'll do, my fine fellow. Let me speak for myself, if you please.
+Pardon, M. le brigadier," he went on, saluting him politely. "Here is
+my card. I am, as you will perceive, an officer of the English army,
+and I appeal to you as a comrade, for I see by your decorations, no
+doubt richly deserved, that you are an <i>ancien militaire</i>. I appeal to
+you for justice and protection."</p>
+
+<p>"Protection, forsooth!" I broke in, contemptuously. "Such as the wolf
+and the tiger and the snake expect from their victim."</p>
+
+<p>It made me sick to hear him currying favour with the gendarme, and
+still worse that it was affecting the old trooper, who looked on all
+as <i>pekins</i>, mere civilians, far inferior to military men.</p>
+
+<p>"Protection you shall have, <i>mon Colonel</i>, if you have a right to it,
+<i>bien entendu</i>," said the sergeant, civilly but cautiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I ask it because these people have made a  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> dead set at me. They have
+tried to hustle me and, I fear, to rob me, and I have been obliged to
+act in my own defence."</p>
+
+<p>Before I could protest against this shameless misrepresentation of the
+fact, my lord interposed. He was now free, and, gradually recovering,
+was burning to avenge the insults put upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not true," he shouted. "It is an absolute lie. He knows it is
+not true; he is perfectly well aware who I am, Lord Blackadder; and
+that he has no sort of grievance against me nor any of my people. His
+attack upon me was altogether unprovoked and unjustifiable."</p>
+
+<p>"Let the authorities judge between us," calmly said the Colonel. "Take
+us before the station-master, or send for the Commissary from the
+town. I haven't the slightest objection."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, the <i>Commissaire de police</i>, the judge, the peace officer.
+Let us go before the highest authorities; nothing less than arrest,
+imprisonment, the heaviest penalties, will satisfy me," went on my
+lord.</p>
+
+<p>"With all my heart," cried the Colonel. "We'll refer it to any one you
+please. Lead  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> on, <i>mon brave</i>, only you must take all or none. I
+insist upon that. It is my right; let us all go before the
+Commissary."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no Commissary here in Culoz. You must travel to
+Aix-les-Bains to find him. Fifteen miles from here."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why not? I'm quite ready," assented the Colonel, with an
+alacrity I did not understand. I began to think he had some game of
+his own.</p>
+
+<p>"So am I ready," cried his lordship. "I desire most strongly to haul
+this hectoring bully before the law, and let his flagrant misconduct
+be dealt with in a most exemplary fashion."</p>
+
+<p>I caught a curious shadow flitting across my comrade Tiler's face at
+this speech. He evidently did not approve of my lord's attitude. Why?</p>
+
+<p>I met his eye as soon as I could, and, in answer to my inquiring
+glance, he came over to me and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see? He," jerking his finger toward the Colonel, "wants us
+to waste as much time as possible, while my lady slips through our
+fingers and gets farther and farther on her road."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Where is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, where? No longer here, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>The train by which we had come from Geneva was not now in the station.
+It had gone on, quite unobserved by any of us during the fracas, and
+it flashed upon me at once that the incident had been planned for this
+very purpose of occupying our attention while she stole off.</p>
+
+<p>"But, one moment, Ludovic, that train was going to Ma&ccedil;on and Paris. My
+lady was travelling the other way&mdash;this way. You came with her
+yourself. Why should she run back again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Why does a woman do anything, and particularly this one? Still
+there was a reason, a good one. She must have caught sight of my lord,
+and knew that she was caught."</p>
+
+<p>"That's plausible enough, but I don't understand it. She started for
+Italy; what turned her back when you followed her, and why did she
+come this way again?"</p>
+
+<p>"She only came because I'd tracked her to Amberieu, and thought to
+give me the slip," said Tiler.</p>
+
+<p>"May be. But it don't seem to fit. Anyway, we've got to find her once
+more. It ought  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> not to be difficult. She's not the sort to hide
+herself easily, with all her belongings, the nurse and the baby and
+all the rest. But hold on, my lord is speaking."</p>
+
+<p>"Find out, one of you," he said briefly, "when the next train goes to
+Aix. I mean to push this through to the bitter end. You will be
+careful, sergeant, to bring your prisoner along with you."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Merci bien!</i> I do not want you or any one else to teach me my duty,"
+replied the gendarme, very stiffly. It was clear that his sympathies
+were all with the other side.</p>
+
+<p>"A prisoner, am I?" cried the Colonel, gaily. "Not much. But I shall
+make no difficulties. I am willing enough to go with you. When is it
+to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nine fifty-one; due at Aix at 10.22," Tiler reported, and we
+proceeded to pass the time, some twenty minutes, each in his own way.
+Lord Blackadder paced the platform with feverish footsteps, his rage
+and disappointment still burning fiercely within him. The Colonel
+invited the two gendarmes to the <i>buvette</i>, and l'Echelle followed
+him. I was a little doubtful of that slippery gentleman; although I
+had bought him, as I thought, the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> night before, I never felt sure of
+him. He had joined our party, had travelled with us, and seemed on our
+side in the recent scuffle, here he was putting himself at the beck
+and call of his own employer. My lord had paid him five hundred
+francs. Was the money thrown away, and his intention now to go back on
+his bargain?</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Tiler and I thought it our pressing duty to utilize these
+few moments in seeking news of our lady and her party. Had she been
+seen? Oh, yes, many people, officials, and hangers-on about the
+station had seen her. Too much seen indeed, for the stories told were
+confusing and conflicting. One <i>facteur</i> assured us he had helped her
+into the train going Amberieu way, but I thought his description very
+vague, although Tiler swallowed the statement quite greedily. Another
+man told me quite a different story; he had seen her, and had not the
+slightest doubt of it, in the down train, that for Aix-les-Bains, the
+express via Chambery, Modane, and the Mont Cenis tunnel for Italy.
+This was the true version, I felt sure. Italy had been her original
+destination, and naturally she would continue her journey that way.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Why, then, Tiler asked, had she gone to Amberieu, running back as she
+had done with him at her heels? To deceive him, of course, I retorted.
+Was it not clear that her real point was Italy? Why else had she
+returned to Culoz by the early train directly she thought she had
+eluded Tiler? The reasoning was correct, but Ludovic was always a
+desperately obstinate creature, jealous and conceited, tenacious of
+his opinions, and holding them far superior to those who were cleverer
+and more intelligent than himself.</p>
+
+<p>Then we heard the whistle of the approaching train, and we all
+collected on the platform. L'Echelle, as he came from the direction of
+the <i>buvette</i>, was a little in the rear of the Colonel and the
+gendarmes. I caught a look on his face not easy to interpret. He was
+grinning all over it and pointing toward the Colonel with his finger,
+derisively. I was not inclined to trust him very greatly, but he
+evidently wished us to believe that he thought very little of the
+Colonel, and that we might count upon his support against him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There were seven of us passengers, more than enough to fill one
+compartment, so we did not travel together. My lord very liberally
+provided first-class tickets for the whole of the party, but the
+Colonel took his own and paid for the gendarmes. He refused to travel
+in the same carriage with the noble Earl, saying openly and impudently
+that he preferred the society of honest old soldiers to such a crew as
+ours. L'Echelle, still sitting on the hedge, as I fancied, got in with
+the Colonel and his escort.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Aix-les-Bains, we found the omnibus that did the <i>service
+de la ville</i>, but the Colonel refused to enter it, and declared he
+would walk; he cared nothing for the degradation of appearing in the
+public streets as a prisoner marching between a couple of gendarmes.
+He gloried in it, he said; his desire was clearly to turn the whole
+thing into ridicule, and the passers-by laughed aloud at this
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> well-dressed gentleman, as he strutted along with his hat cocked, one
+hand on his hip, the other placed familiarly on the sergeant's arm.</p>
+
+<p>He met some friends, too,&mdash;one was a person rather like himself, with
+the same swaggering high-handed air, who accosted him as we were
+passing the corner of the square just by the H&ocirc;tel d'Aix.</p>
+
+<p>"What ho! Basil my boy!" cried the stranger. "In chokey? Took up by
+the police? What've you done? Robbed a church?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on with us and you'll soon know. No, really, come along, I may
+want you. I'm going before the beak and may want a witness as to
+character."</p>
+
+<p>"Right oh! There are some more of us here from the old shop&mdash;Jack
+Tyrrell, Bobus Smith&mdash;all Mars and Neptune men. They'll speak for a
+pal at a pinch. Where shall we come?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the town hall, the <i>mairie</i>," replied the Colonel, after a brief
+reference to his escort. "I've got a particular appointment there with
+Monsieur le Commissaire, and the Right Honourable the Earl of
+Blackadder."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that noble sportsman? What's  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> wrong with him? What's he been
+doing to you or you to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I punched his head, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt he deserved it; anyhow, Charlie Forrester will be pleased.
+By-by, you'll see me again, and all the chaps I can pick up at the
+Cercle and the hotels near."</p>
+
+<p>Then our procession passed on, the Colonel and gendarmes leading,
+Tiler and I with l'Echelle close behind.</p>
+
+<p>We found my lord awaiting us. He had driven on ahead in a <i>fiacre</i> and
+was standing alone at the entrance to the police office, which is
+situated on the ground floor of the H&ocirc;tel de Ville, a pretty
+old-fashioned building of gray stone just facing the Etablissement
+Thermale, the home of the far-famed baths from which <i>Aix-les-Bains</i>
+takes its name.</p>
+
+<p>"In here?" asked my lord; and with a brief wave of his hand he would
+have passed in first, but the officers of the law put him rather
+rudely aside and claimed precedence for their prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>But when M. le Commissaire, who was there, seated at a table opposite
+his <i>greffier</i>, rose and bowed stiffly, inquiring our business, my
+lord  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> pushed forward into the front and began very warmly, in passable
+French:</p>
+
+<p>"I am an aggrieved person seeking justice on a wrong-doer. I&mdash;demand
+justice of you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Pardon, monsieur, je vous prie.</i> We must proceed in order, and first
+allow me to assure you that justice is always done in France. No one
+need claim it in the tone you have assumed."</p>
+
+<p>The Commissary was a solemn person, full of the stiff formality
+exhibited by members of the French magistracy, the juniors especially.
+He was dressed in discreet black, his clean-shaven, imperturbable face
+showed over a stiff collar, and he wore the conventional white tie of
+the French official.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to ask&mdash;" he went on coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will explain in a few words," began my lord, replying hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay, monsieur, it is not from you that I seek explanation. It is the
+duty of the officers of the law now present, and prepared, I presume,
+to make their report. Proceed, sergeant."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must hear me, M. le Commissary; I call upon and require you
+to do so. I have  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> been shamefully ill-used by that man there." He
+shook his finger at the Colonel. "He has violently assaulted me. I am
+Lord Blackadder, an English peer. I am entitled to your best
+consideration."</p>
+
+<p>"Every individual, the poorest, meanest, is entitled to that in
+republican France. You shall have it, sir, but only as I see fit to
+accord it. I must first hear the story from my own people. Go on,
+sergeant."</p>
+
+<p>"I protest," persisted my lord. "You must attend to me&mdash;you shall
+listen to me. I shall complain to your superiors&mdash;I shall bring the
+matter before the British ambassador. Do you realize who and what I
+am?"</p>
+
+<p>"You appear to be a gentleman with an uncontrollable temper, whose
+conduct is most improper. I must ask you to behave yourself, to
+respect the <i>convenances</i>, or I shall be compelled to show you the
+door."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not be put down in this way, I will speak; I&mdash;I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, monsieur. I call upon you, explicitly, to moderate your tone
+and pay proper deference to my authority." With this the commissary
+pulled out a drawer, extracted a tricolour sash and slowly buckled it
+round his  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> waist, then once more turned interrogatively to the
+sergeant:</p>
+
+<p>"It is nothing very serious, M. le Commissaire," said the treacherous
+gendarme. "A simple brawl&mdash;a blow struck, possibly returned&mdash;a mere
+<i>rixe</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Between gentlemen? <i>Fi donc!</i> Why the commonest <i>voyous</i>, the
+<i>r&ocirc;deurs</i> of the <i>barri&egrave;re</i>, could not do worse. It is not our French
+way. Men of honour settle their disputes differently; they do not come
+to the <i>police correctionnelle</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not think it is my desire," broke in the Colonel, with his
+customary fierceness. "I have offered Lord Blackadder satisfaction as
+a gentleman, and am ready to meet him when and how he pleases."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot listen to you, sir. Duels are in contravention of the Code.
+But I recommend you to take your quarrels elsewhere, and not to waste
+my time."</p>
+
+<p>"This is quite unheard of," cried my lord, now thoroughly aroused.
+"You are shamefully neglecting your duty, M. le Commissaire, and it
+cannot be tolerated."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not responsible to you, sir, and will account for my action <i>&agrave;
+qui de droit</i>, to those  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> who have the right to question me. The case
+is dismissed. Gendarmes, release your prisoner, and let everyone
+withdraw."</p>
+
+<p>We all trooped out into the square, where a number of persons had
+assembled, evidently the Colonel's friends, for they greeted him
+uproariously.</p>
+
+<p>"The prisoner has left the court without a stain upon his character,"
+the Colonel shouted in answer to their noisy inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>"But what was it? Why did they run you in?" they still asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I refer you to this gentleman, Lord Blackadder. Perhaps some of you
+know him. At any rate you've heard of him. We had a difference of
+opinion, and I was compelled to administer chastisement." A lot of
+impudent chaff followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! really, pray introduce me to his lordship," said one. "Does your
+lordship propose to make a long stay in Aix? Can we be of any use to
+you?" "You mustn't mind Basil Annesley; he's always full of his
+games." "Hope he didn't hurt you. He didn't mean it really;" and I
+could see that the Earl could hardly contain himself in his rage.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly muttering something about "bounders" and "cads," he
+forced his way through and hurried off, shouting his parting
+instructions to us to join him as soon as possible at the H&ocirc;tel
+Hautecombe on the hill.</p>
+
+<p>We followed quickly, and were ushered at once into his private
+apartment. It was essential to confer and decide upon some plan of
+action; but when I asked him what he proposed to do next, he received
+my harmless request with a storm of invective and reproach.</p>
+
+<p>"You miserable and incompetent fools! Don't expect me to tell you your
+business. Why do I pay you? Why indeed? Nothing you have done has been
+of the very slightest use; on the contrary, through your beastly
+mismanagement I have been dragged into this degrading position, held
+up to ridicule and contempt before all the world. And with it all, the
+whole thing has failed. I sent you out to recover my child, and what
+have you done? What has become of that abominable woman who stole it
+from under your very noses? Blackguards! Bunglers! Idiots! Fat-headed
+asses!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, my lord," pleaded Tiler humbly, for I confess I was so much
+annoyed by this  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span> undeserved reprimand I could not bring myself to
+speak civilly. "I think I can assure your lordship that matters will
+soon mend. The situation is not hopeless, believe me. You may rely on
+us to regain touch with the fugitives without delay. I have a clue,
+and with your lordship's permission will follow it at once."</p>
+
+<p>I saw clearly that he was set upon the absurd notion he had conceived
+that the lady had gone westward, and I felt it my duty to warn the
+Earl not to be misled by Tiler.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing in his clue, my lord. It is pure assumption, without
+any good evidence to support it."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me hear this precious clue," said his lordship. "I will decide
+what it is worth."</p>
+
+<p>Then Tiler propounded his theory.</p>
+
+<p>"It might be good enough," I interjected, "if I did not know the exact
+contrary. The lady with her party was seen going in exactly the
+opposite direction. I know it for a fact."</p>
+
+<p>"And I am equally positive of what I saw," said Tiler.</p>
+
+<p>His lordship looked from one to the other, plainly perplexed and with
+increasing anger.</p>
+
+<p>"By the Lord Harry, it's pleasant to be  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> served by a couple of such
+useless creatures who differ so entirely in their views that they
+cannot agree upon a common plan of action. How can I decide as to the
+best course if you give me no help?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps your lordship will allow me to make a suggestion?" I said
+gravely, and I flatter myself with some dignity, for I wished to show
+I was not pleased with the way he treated us.</p>
+
+<p>"Whether the lady has gone north or south, east or west, may be
+uncertain; and although I am satisfied in my own mind as to the
+direction she took, I am willing to await further developments before
+embarking on any further chase. To my mind the best clue, the real,
+the only clue, lies here, in our very hands. If we have only a little
+patience, this Colonel Annesley will act as a sign-post."</p>
+
+<p>"You think that some communication will reach him from the fugitives?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most decidedly I do. I firmly believe that the lady relies upon him
+greatly, and will in all probability call him to her, or if not that
+she will wish to let him know how she has got on."</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in this unpleasant interview  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> his lordship looked
+at me approvingly. He quite changed his tone and dropped his
+aggressive manner.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you are entirely right, Falfani, and cordially agree with
+your suggestion," he said with great heartiness. "Let it be adopted at
+once. Take immediate steps, if you please, to set a close watch on
+this pestilent villain Annesley; keep him continually under your eye."</p>
+
+<p>"We've got to find him first," objected Tiler gruffly and
+despondently.</p>
+
+<p>"It ought not to be difficult, seeing that he was here half an hour
+ago, and we can hunt up l'Echelle, who will surely know, and who I
+have reason to hope is on our side."</p>
+
+<p>"Do it one way or another. I look to you for that, and let me know the
+result without loss of time. Then we will confer again and arrange
+further. Leave me now."</p>
+
+<p>I accepted my dismissal and moved towards the door, but Tiler hung
+behind, and I heard him say timidly:</p>
+
+<p>"May I crave your lordship's pardon&mdash;and I trust you rely on my entire
+devotion to your lordship's service&mdash;but there is one thing I most
+earnestly desire to do."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is to follow my own clue, at least for a time. It is the
+right one I firmly believe, and I am satisfied it would be wrong,
+criminal even to neglect it. Will you allow me to absent myself if
+only for a few days? That should suffice to settle the point. If I
+fail I will return with all speed. If, as I hope and believe, I strike
+the scent, assuredly you will not regret it."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something in what you say. At any rate that line ought to be
+looked up," said his lordship. "I am willing to wait a day or two
+until you return or report, or unless something more definite turns up
+in the other direction. I suppose he can be spared, Falfani?"</p>
+
+<p>"He will be no manner of use here, it will be better to let him go;
+let him run after his red herring, he'll precious soon find out his
+mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see," said Tiler, elated and cocksure, and I freely confess
+we did see that he was not quite the fool I thought him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>On leaving his lordship I descended to the grand entrance to the hotel
+with the intention of beating up the Colonel's quarters in Aix.
+Although the hotels were certain to be crowded at this, the height of
+the season, the town is not really large, the visitors' lists are well
+posted with new arrivals, and there are one or two public places where
+people always turn up at some time or other in the day. The <i>cercle</i>
+or <i>casino</i> and its <i>succursale</i> the Villa des Fleurs, with their many
+spacious rooms, reading-room, concert-room, baccarat-room, their
+restaurants, their beautiful gardens, are thronged at all hours of the
+day with the smart folk of all nationalities.</p>
+
+<p>I stood on the top of the steps waiting for the private omnibus that
+plies between the hotel and the town below, when I heard my name
+called from behind, and turning, was confronted by Jules l'Echelle.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Hullo!" I cried, eying him suspiciously. "What brings you up here?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Colonel, my master&mdash;for I have taken service with him, you must
+know&mdash;sent me here to inquire whether we could have rooms."</p>
+
+<p>"Why does he choose this hotel of all others?" I asked in a
+dissatisfied tone, although in my secret heart I was overjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the best, isn't it? Haven't you come here?"</p>
+
+<p>"My Lord Blackadder has, but that's another pair of shoes. There's
+some difference between him and a beggarly half-pay Colonel who will
+very likely have to black the boots to work out his bill. They know
+how to charge here."</p>
+
+<p>"The Colonel, I take it, can pay his way as well as most people.
+Anyhow, he's coming to stop here."</p>
+
+<p>"For any time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Likely enough. He said something about going through the course,
+taking the baths, and among the rest asked me to find out the best
+doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"That'll mean a lengthened stay; three weeks at least."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Well, why shouldn't he? He's his own master."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he's finished with that foolish business about the lady; had
+enough of it, I suppose; burnt his fingers and done no earthly good."</p>
+
+<p>"How do I know? It's not my business; but I fancy I have fallen into a
+snug berth, a soft job, better than making beds in a sleeping-car and
+being shaken to death in express trains."</p>
+
+<p>"Good wages, if it's a fair question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fifty francs a week, <i>pour tout potage</i>."</p>
+
+<p>I looked at him hard, revolving in my mind how best to approach him.
+L'Echelle was a Swiss, and with most of his sort it is only a question
+of price. How much would it take to buy him?</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how have you fared? Have you succeeded in getting your rooms?
+Will your Colonel move up?"</p>
+
+<p>"What would his lordship say? Wouldn't like it much, I expect. Shall I
+prevent it? It will be easy to say there are no rooms. I'll do just as
+you please."</p>
+
+<p>"You're very obliging."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"I'm willing enough to oblige, as I've always told you&mdash;at a price."</p>
+
+<p>"Put a name to it; but don't forget you've had something on account.
+Last night I gave you five hundred francs."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! I want a lot more than that, a thousand francs down and fifty
+francs a day so long as I serve you. Do you agree to my terms?"</p>
+
+<p>"My lord won't. He looks both sides of his money, and pays no fancy
+prices for a pig in a poke."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll take my pigs to another market. Suppose I let the Colonel
+know what you've been at, trying to tamper with me. This hotel
+wouldn't be big enough to hold him and your patron together."</p>
+
+<p>"Well,"&mdash;I hesitated, not willing to appear too anxious,&mdash;"let's say,
+just for argument's sake, that you got what you ask, or something near
+it. I'm not in a position to promise it, no, not the half of it. But
+we'll agree what you'd do for us in return?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anything you chose to ask."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you come over to us, belong to us body and soul? Think first of
+my lord, put his interests before the Colonel's; tell us what  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> the
+Colonel's doing, his game from day to day, read his letters, and tell
+us their contents; spy on his actions, watch him at every turn, his
+comings and his goings; the houses he calls at, the people he meets,
+every move he makes or has in view?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I promise to do all that will you promise not to give me away?
+You'll keep your own counsel and protect me from the Colonel? If he
+got a whisper I was selling him I'd lose my place and he'd half kill
+me into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a soul shall know but my lord and myself. I must consult him, or
+you won't get the money."</p>
+
+<p>"But there is that other chap, the one who joined us at Culoz, and who
+was with you at the Commissariat, a new face to me. One of your own
+party, wasn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, Tiler; he's on the job, too, came out when I did from
+London. But he's gone, left us half an hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>"For good and all? Sacked, dropped out, or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gone to follow up a game of his own. He thinks he knows better than
+any one else; believes the lady has harked back, and is following  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> her
+to Amberieu, Ma&ccedil;on, Paris, England perhaps. God knows where. It's a
+wild goose chase, of course; but my lord leans to it, and so it is to
+be tried."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't agree?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I when I'm satisfied he's wrong? She was seen in the express
+for Modane, making for the Mont Cenis tunnel. Of course that's the
+true direction. She was aiming for Italy from the first; the other
+sister, the divorced lady, is there; we've always known that. Go back
+to England! Bah! absolute rot. I'd stick to my opinion against fifty
+fools like Tiler."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a bargain, then; I can count upon the cash? How soon shall you
+know? I'd like to begin at once; there's something I would tell you
+here, and now, that would interest you very much. But money down is my
+rule."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me run up and ask his lordship. I won't keep you five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>My lord gave his consent a little grudgingly, but was presently
+persuaded that it was to his own advantage to have a spy in the heart
+of the enemy's camp. That was soon seen when l'Echelle had pocketed
+his notes and gave us the news in exchange.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Now that I'm my lord's man I don't mind telling you that the Colonel
+does not mean to stay long in Aix, not one minute longer than till the
+call comes."</p>
+
+<p>"He expects a call?"</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly. He wants you to think he's a fixture here, but he means to
+cut and run after my lady whenever she sends to him. He'll be off then
+faster than that," he snapped his fingers, "and you won't find it easy
+to catch him."</p>
+
+<p>"That's good. You'll be well worth your money, I can see. Only be
+diligent, watch closely, and keep us fully informed. We shall trust
+very greatly to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Your trust shall not be misplaced. When I take an employer's pay I
+serve him faithfully and to the best of my power," he said with an
+engaging frankness that won me completely.</p>
+
+<p>Lord! Lord! what liars men are and what fools! I might have guessed
+how much reliance was to be placed upon a man who, to my certain
+knowledge, was serving two masters.</p>
+
+<p>Why should he be more faithful to my lord than to the Colonel?</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The rest of the first day at Aix passed without any important
+incident. I was a trifle surprised that the Colonel did not put in an
+appearance; but it was explained by l'Echelle, whom I met by
+appointment later in the day. I understood from him that the Colonel
+had decided to remain down in the town, where he had many friends, and
+where he was more in the thick of the fun. For Aix-les-Bains, as every
+one knows, is a lively little place in the season, and the heart and
+centre of it all is the Casino. The Colonel had established himself in
+a hotel almost next door, and ran up against me continually that
+afternoon and evening, as I wandered about now under the trees
+listening to the band, now at the baccarat table, where I occasionally
+staked a few <i>jetons</i> of the smaller values.</p>
+
+<p>He never failed to meet my eye when it rested on him; he seemed to
+know intuitively when I watched him, and he always looked  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span> back and
+laughed. If any one was with him, as was generally the case&mdash;smart
+ladies and men of his own stamp, with all of whom he seemed on very
+familiar terms&mdash;he invariably drew their attention to me, and they,
+too, laughed aloud after a prolonged stare. It was a little
+embarrassing; he had so evidently disclosed my business, in scornful
+terms no doubt, and held me up to ridicule, describing in his own way
+and much to my discredit all that had happened between us. Once he had
+the effrontery to accost me as I stood facing the green board on which
+the telegrams are exposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have we met?" he began, with a mocking laugh. "I seem to know
+your face. Ah, of course, my old friend Falfani, the private detective
+who appeared in the Blackadder case. And I think I have come across
+you more recently."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg you will not address yourself to me. I don't know you, I don't
+wish to know you," I replied, with all the dignity I could assume. "I
+decline to hold any conversation with you," and I moved away.</p>
+
+<p>But several of his rowdy friends closed  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span> around me and held me there,
+compelled to listen to his gibes as he rattled on.</p>
+
+<p>"How is his lordship? Well, I hope. None the worse for that little
+<i>contretemps</i> this morning. May I ask you to convey to him my deep
+regrets for what occurred, and my sincere wishes for his recovery? If
+there is anything I can do for his lordship, any information I can
+give him, he knows, I trust, that he can command me. Does he propose
+to make a lengthened stay here?"</p>
+
+<p>"His lordship&mdash;" I tried vainly to interrupt him.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me urge him most strongly to go through the course. The warm
+baths are truly delightful and most efficacious in calming the temper
+and restoring the nerve-power. He should take the Aix treatment, he
+should indeed. I am doing so, tell him; it may encourage him."</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel, this is quite insufferable," I cried, goaded almost to
+madness. "I shall stand no more of it. Leave me in peace, I'll have no
+more truck with you."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet it would be wiser. I am the only person who can be of any use
+to you. You  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span> will have to come to me yet. Better make friends."</p>
+
+<p>"We can do without you, thank you," I said stiffly. "His lordship
+would not be beholden to you, I feel sure. He can choose his own
+agents."</p>
+
+<p>"And in his own sneaking, underhand way," the Colonel answered
+quickly, and with such a meaning look that I was half-afraid he
+suspected that we were tampering with his man. "But two can play at
+that game, as you may find some day."</p>
+
+<p>When I met l'Echelle that same evening as arranged, at the Caf&eacute; Amadeo
+in the Place Carnot, I questioned him closely as to whether his master
+had any suspicion of him, but he answered me stoutly it was quite
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>"He knows I see you, that of course, but he firmly believes it is in
+his own service. He is just as anxious to know what you are doing as
+you are to observe him. By the way, have you heard anything of your
+other man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't trouble; only if I could pass him on a bit of news either
+way it might lead him to show his hand. If Tiler is getting 'hot'&mdash;you
+know the old game&mdash;he might like to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> go after him. If Tiler is thrown
+out the Colonel will want to give help in the other direction."</p>
+
+<p>"That's sound sense, I admit. But all I can tell you is we had a
+telegram from him an hour or two ago which doesn't look as if he was
+doing much good. It was sent from Lyons, a roundabout way of getting
+to Paris from here, and now he's going south! Of all the born idiots!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor devil! That's how he's made. It's not everyone who's a born
+detective, friend Falfani. It's lucky my lord has you at his elbow."</p>
+
+<p>We parted excellent friends. The more I saw of l'Echelle the more I
+liked him. It was a pleasure to work with a man of such acute
+perceptions, and I told him so.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing fresh occurred that night or the next day. I was never very
+far off my Colonel, and watched him continually but unobtrusively. I
+hope I know my business well enough for that.</p>
+
+<p>I was rather struck by a change in his demeanour. It was very subtle,
+and everyone might have noticed it. He wore an air of preoccupation
+that spoke to me of an uneasy mind.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> He was unhappy about something;
+some doubt, some secret dread oppressed him, and more than once I
+thought he wished to keep out of sight and avoid my searching
+interrogative eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You're right," said l'Echelle. "He's down on his luck, and he don't
+want you to see it. He's dying for news that don't seem in a hurry to
+come. Half a dozen times to-day he's asked me to inquire if there's a
+telegram for him, and he haunts the hall porter's box continually in
+the hope of getting one. Have you heard any more from Tiler?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, another mad telegram, this time from Marseilles. Fancy that! It
+will be Constantinople next or Grand Cairo or Timbuctoo. The folly of
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>"What does my lord say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty, and it's not pleasant to bear. He's getting fairly wild, and
+cart ropes won't hold him. He wants to go racing after Tiler now, and
+if he does he'll give away the whole show. I hope to heaven your boss
+will show his hand soon."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not for me to make him, you must admit that. But cheer up,
+<i>copain</i>, things may mend."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> </p>
+
+<p>They did, as often happens when they seem to be at their worst.</p>
+
+<p>I have always been an early riser, and was specially so at Aix, now
+when the heat was intense, and the pleasantest hours of the day were
+before the sun had risen high. I was putting the finishing touches to
+my toilette about 7 <span class="smcap">a.m</span>. when I heard a knock at my door, and
+without waiting permission l'Echelle rushed in.</p>
+
+<p>"Already dressed? What luck! There is not a moment to lose. Come
+along. I've a <i>fiacre</i> at the door below."</p>
+
+<p>He gave the <i>&eacute;tablissement</i> as the address, and we were soon tearing
+down the hill. As we drove along l'Echelle told me the news.</p>
+
+<p>"It's come, that satanic telegram, and just what he wanted, I'm
+prepared to swear. He simply jumped for joy when he read it."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was the message? Go on, go on, out with it!" I shouted
+almost mad with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you that, for I haven't seen it yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you making a fool of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"How could I see it? He put it straight  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> into his pocket. But I mean
+to see it pretty soon, and so shall you."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to abstract it somehow&mdash;pick his pocket, or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Simplest thing in the world. You see he's gone to have his bath, he
+likes to be early, and he's undergoing the douche at this very moment,
+which means naturally that he's taken off his clothes, and they are
+waiting in the dressing-room for me to take home. I shall have a good
+quarter of an hour and more to spare before they carry him back to the
+hotel in his blankets and get him to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" I said, "that's a brilliant idea. How do you mean to work it
+out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Take the telegram out of his waistcoat pocket, read it, or bring it
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring it; that will be best," I interrupted, feeling a tinge of
+suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>"But I must put it straight back," continued l'Echelle, "for he is
+sure to ask for it directly he returns to the hotel."</p>
+
+<p>Within a few minutes he had gone in and out again, carrying now one of
+the black linen bags used by <i>valets de chambres</i> to carry their
+masters' clothes in. He winked at me as he passed, and we walked
+together to a shady,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> retired spot in the little square where the
+cab-stand is, and sat in the newspaper kiosk on a couple of
+straw-bottomed chairs of the Central <i>caf&eacute;</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Read that," he said triumphantly, as he handed me the familiar scrap
+of blue paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Have got safely so far with nurse and baby&mdash;entreat you to follow
+with all possible speed&mdash;dying to get on.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Claire</span>, H&ocirc;tel
+Cavour, Milan."</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent!" I cried, slapping my thigh. "This settles all doubts. So
+much for that fool Tiler. My lord will be very grateful to you," and I
+handed him back the telegram, having first copied it word for word in
+my note-book.</p>
+
+<p>"It means, I suppose," suggested l'Echelle, "that you will make for
+Milan, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No fear&mdash;by the first train. You'll be clever if you get the start of
+us, for I presume you will be moving."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't the smallest doubt of that; we shall be quite a merry
+party. It will be quite like old times."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>[<i>Colonel Annesley again.</i>]</h3>
+<p>
+I had no reason to complain of the course of events culminating in the
+affair at Culoz. I defended to myself the assault upon Lord Blackadder
+as in a measure provoked and justifiable under the circumstances,
+although I was really sorry for him and at the poor figure he cut
+before the police magistrate and gendarmes. But I could not forget the
+part he had played throughout, nor was I at all disposed to turn aside
+from my set purpose to help the ladies in their distress. Every man of
+proper feeling would be moved thereto, and I knew in my secret heart
+that very tender motives impelled me to the unstinting championship of
+Lady Claire.</p>
+
+<p>I was still without definite news of what had happened between the two
+sisters while I was covering their movements at Culoz. I could not
+know for certain whether or not the exchange had actually been
+effected, and I did  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> not dare inquire about the station, for it might
+betray facts and endanger results. I had no hope of a message from
+Lady Henriette, for she would hardly know where to address me. Lady
+Claire would almost certainly telegraph to me via London at the very
+earliest opportunity, and I was careful to wire from Culoz to the hall
+porter of my club, begging him to send on everything without a
+moment's delay.</p>
+
+<p>Then, while still in the dark, I set myself like a prudent general to
+discover what the enemy was doing. He was here in Aix in the persons
+of Lord Blackadder and his two devoted henchmen, Falfani and Tiler. I
+had heard the appointment he had given them at the H&ocirc;tel Hautecombe,
+and I cast about me to consider how I might gain some inkling of their
+intentions. Luckily I had desired l'Echelle, the sleeping-car
+conductor, to stick to me on leaving the police office, and I put it
+to him whether or not he was willing to enter my service.</p>
+
+<p>"I will take you on entirely," I promised, "if you choose to leave
+your present employment. You shall be my own man, my valet and
+personal attendant. It is likely that I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> may wander about the
+Continent for some time, and it may suit you to come with me."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed pleased at the idea, and we quickly agreed as to terms.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, l'Echelle," I went on, "after last night I think I may trust you
+to do what I want, and I promise you I won't forget it. Find out what
+the other side is at, and contrive somehow to become acquainted with
+Lord Blackadder's plans."</p>
+
+<p>"How far may I go?" he asked me plump. "They are pretty sure to try
+and win me over, they've done so already. Shall I accept their bid? It
+would be the easiest way to know all you want."</p>
+
+<p>"It's devilish underhand," I protested.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be paying them back in their own coin," he returned. "<i>A
+corsaire fieff&eacute; corsaire et demi.</i> It will be to my advantage, and you
+won't lose."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my soul, I don't quite like it." I still hung back, but his
+arguments seemed so plausible that they overcame my scruples, and I
+was not sorry for it in the long run.</p>
+
+<p>[<i>The reader has already been told how Falfani craftily approached
+l'Echelle, and found him, as he thought, an easy prey. We know</i>  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span> <i>how
+the communication was kept up between the two camps, how Falfani was
+fooled into believing that he kept close watch over Colonel Annesley
+through l'Echelle, how the latter told his real master the true news
+of the progress made by Tiler. When there could be little doubt that
+the chase was growing warm and had gone as far as Lyons, the Colonel
+felt that there was danger and that he must take more active steps to
+divert the pursuit and mislead the pursuers. The Colonel shall
+continue in his own words.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I was much disturbed when I learnt that Tiler had wired from Lyons. I
+saw clearly what it meant. The next message would disclose the
+whereabouts of the Lady Claire, at that time the only lady, as they
+thought, in the case, and the lady with the real child. It would soon
+be impossible for me to make use of the second with the sham child to
+draw the pursuers after her. In this it must be understood that,
+although I had no certainty of it, I took it for granted that the
+little Lord Aspdale was with his aunt and not with his mother, who, as
+I sincerely believed, had already reached Fuentellato.</p>
+
+<p>It was essential now to persuade my Lord  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span> Blackadder and his people
+that this was the case, and induce them to embark upon a hasty
+expedition into Italy.</p>
+
+<p>I therefore concocted a cunning plan with l'Echelle for leading them
+astray. It was easy enough to arrange for the despatch of a telegram
+from Milan to me at Aix, a despatch to be handed in at the former
+place by a friend of l'Echelle's, but purporting to come from Lady
+Claire. My man had any number of acquaintances in the railway service,
+one or more passed daily through Aix with the express trains going
+east or west; and with the payment of a substantial douceur the trick
+was done.</p>
+
+<p>The spurious message reached me in Aix early on the third morning, and
+the second act in the fraud was that l'Echelle should allow Falfani to
+see the telegram. He carried out the deception with consummate skill,
+pretending to pick my pocket of the telegram, which he then put under
+Falfani's eyes. The third act was to be my immediate exit from Aix. I
+made no secret of this, very much the reverse. Notice was given at the
+hotel bureau to prepare my bill, and insert my name on the list of
+departures by the afternoon express, the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> 1.41 <span class="smcap">p.m</span>. for
+Modane and Italy. It was quite certain that I should not be allowed to
+go off alone.</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, came a complete change in the
+situation. Not long after I had consumed my morning <i>caf&eacute; au lait</i> and
+rolls, the conventional <i>petit d&eacute;jeuner</i> of French custom, a letter
+was brought to my bedside, where, again according to rule, I was
+resting after my bath.</p>
+
+<p>I expected no letters, no one except the porter of my London club knew
+my present address, and the interval was too short since my telegram
+to him to allow of letters reaching me in the ordinary course of the
+post.</p>
+
+<p>I turned over the strange missive, the address in a lady's hand quite
+unknown to me, examining it closely, as one does when mystified,
+guessing vainly at a solution instead of settling it by instantly
+breaking the seal.</p>
+
+<p>When at last I opened it my eye went first to the signature. To my
+utter amazement I read the name, "Henriette Standish." It was dated
+from the H&ocirc;tel de Modena, Aix-les-Bains, a small private hotel quite
+in the suburbs in the direction of the Grand Port, and it ran as
+follows:</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> </p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Dear Colonel Annesley</span>:&mdash;I have only just seen in the
+<i>Gazette des Etrangers</i> that you are staying in Aix. I also am here,
+having been unable to proceed on my journey as I intended after
+meeting my sister at Culoz. I thought of remaining here a few days
+longer, but I have also read Lord Blackadder's name in the list.<br />
+
+<br />"What is to be done? I am horribly frightened, and greatly vexed with
+myself for having put myself in this painful and most embarrassing
+position.<br />
+
+<br />"May I venture to ask your counsel and help? I beg and entreat you
+will come to me as soon as possible after receipt of this. Ask for
+Mrs. Blair. Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting you,
+your extreme kindness to Claire emboldens me to make this appeal to
+you. I shall be at home all the morning. Indeed, I have hardly left
+the house yet, and certainly shall not do so now that I know <i>he</i> is
+here.</p>
+<p class="blockquot">
+"Always very gratefully and sincerely
+  yours,
+</p>
+<p class="blockfor"><span class="smcap">"Henriette Standish</span>."</p>
+
+
+<p>Here was a pretty kettle of fish! Lady Blackadder in Aix! Was there
+ever such a  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> broken reed of a woman? Already she had spoilt her
+sister's nice combinations by turning back from Amberieu when the road
+to safety with her darling child lay open to her. Now for the second
+time she was putting our plans in jeopardy. How could I hope to lure
+her pursuers away to a distance when she was here actually on the
+spot, and might be run into at any moment? For the present all my
+movements were in abeyance. I had reason to fear&mdash;how much reason I
+did not even then realize&mdash;they would be interfered with, and that a
+terrible collapse threatened us.</p>
+
+<p>I dressed hurriedly and walked down to the H&ocirc;tel Modena, where I was
+instantly received. "Mrs. Blair" had given orders that I should be
+admitted the moment I appeared. I had had one glimpse of this tall,
+graceful creature, who so exactly reproduced the beautiful traits of
+her twin sister that she might indeed at a distance be taken for her
+double. There was the same proud carriage of her head, the same lithe
+figure, even her musical voice when she greeted me with shy cordiality
+might have been the voice of Lady Claire.</p>
+
+<p>But the moment I looked into her face I saw a very distinct
+difference, not in outward  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span> feature, but in the inward character that
+is revealed by the eyes, the lines of the mouth, the shape of the
+lower jaw. In Lady Claire the first were steady and spoke of high
+courage, of firm, fixed purpose; the mouth, as perfectly curved as
+Cupid's bow, was resolute and determined, the well-shaped, rounded
+chin was held erect, and might easily become defiant, even aggressive.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Henriette was evidently cast in another mould. Her eyes, of the
+same violet blue, were pretty, pleading, soft in expression, but often
+downcast and deprecating; the mouth and chin were weak and irresolute.
+It was the same lovely face as Lady Claire's, and to some might seem
+the sweeter, indicating the tender, clinging, yielding nature that
+commonly appeals to the stronger sex; but to me she lost in every
+respect by comparison with her more energetic, self-reliant sister.</p>
+
+<p>I heard the explanation, such as it was, without the smallest
+surprise; it was very much what I expected now when I was permitted to
+know and appreciate her better.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I say, Colonel Annesley, and what will you think of me?"
+she began plaintively, almost piteously. "But the moment I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> found I
+had to part with my child my courage broke down. I became incapable of
+doing anything. I seemed quite paralyzed. I am not brave, you know,
+like my dearest Claire, or strong-minded, and I quite collapsed."</p>
+
+<p>"But I hope and trust you have made the exchange. Lady Claire has
+little Lord Aspdale and has left you the dummy? Tell me, I beg."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, yes, we made the exchange," she replied, in such a
+faltering, undecided voice that I doubted, and yet could not bring
+myself to believe that she was not telling the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"So much depends upon it, you see. Everything indeed. It would be a
+very serious matter if&mdash;if&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The contrary was the case," I wanted to say, yet how could I? I
+should be charging her directly with wilfully misleading me, and
+deceiving me in this moment of extreme peril.</p>
+
+<p>"But what will happen now?" she said, her voice faltering, her eyes
+filling, and seemingly on the very verge of hysterics. "What if
+Blackadder should find that I am here, and&mdash;and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He can do nothing to you unless he has a  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> right to act, unless," I
+answered unhesitatingly and a little cruelly perhaps, regardless of
+the scared look in her face, "you have good reason to dread his
+interference. Lady Henriette, you have not been quite straight with
+me, I fear. Where is little Lord Aspdale?"</p>
+
+<p>"In there!" she pointed to an inner room, and burst into
+uncontrollable tears.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>To say that I was aghast at the discovery of Lady Blackadder, or, as
+she preferred to call herself, Lady Henriette Standish, in Aix, and
+with the precious child, would but imperfectly express my feelings.
+For the moment I was so utterly taken aback that I could decide upon
+no new plan of action. I sat there helplessly staring at the poor
+creature, so full of grief and remorse that I was quite unable to rise
+to the occasion. I had counted so securely upon tricking Lord
+Blackadder into a barren pursuit that my disappointment was
+overwhelming and paralyzed my inventiveness.</p>
+
+<p>Only by slow degrees did I evolve certain definite facts and
+conclusions. The most essential thing was to get Lord Blackadder away
+from Aix. So long as he remained he was an ever present danger; our
+game was up directly he awoke to the true state of affairs. He could
+appeal now to the police with better  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span> result than when claiming my
+condign punishment. How was he to be got away? By drawing him after
+me. Clearly I must go, and that not alone, but take them with me,
+following me under the positive impression that I was leading them
+straight to their goal. Not one hint, not the slightest suspicion must
+be permitted to reach them that their quarry was here, just under
+their feet. Undoubtedly I must adhere to my first plan. When I had
+gone on with the others at my heels, the coast would be clear for Lady
+Henriette, and she must double back once more and go into safe hiding
+somewhere, while the hunt overshot its quarry and rolled on.</p>
+
+<p>So soon as Lady Blackadder recovered from her agitation, I essayed to
+win her approval of my plans. But the idea of parting from me now that
+she had laid hold of me was so repugnant to her that she yielded once
+more to her nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg and implore you, Colonel Annesley, not to leave me again. I
+cannot possibly stay here alone. Let me go with you, please, please.
+I'll do what you like, disguise myself, go third class, anything; but
+for goodness' sake don't desert me, or I don't know what will
+happen."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"There is simply no help for it, Lady Henriette. You simply must. It
+is imperative that you should remain here at least for a day or two
+while the others clear out of your way. It would be quite fatal if
+they saw you or you came across them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you're too cruel, it is perfectly inhuman. I shall tell Claire, I
+am sure she will take my part. Oh, why isn't she here, why did I let
+her leave me? I think I am the most wretched and ill-used woman
+alive."</p>
+
+<p>These lamentations and indirect reproaches rather hardened my heart.
+The woman was so unreasonable, so little mindful of what was being
+done for her, that I lost my patience, and said very stiffly:</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Henriette, let us quite understand one another. Do you want to
+keep your child? I tell you candidly there is only one way to save
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"My darling Aspdale! Of course I want to keep him. How can you suggest
+such a horrid idea? It is not a bit what I expected from you. Claire
+told me&mdash;never mind what; but please understand that I will never give
+my baby up."</p>
+
+<p>I was nettled by her perverseness, and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> although I tried hard to
+school myself to patience, it was exceedingly difficult.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, Lady Henriette, I have no desire to separate you from your
+child, nor would I counsel you under any circumstances to give it up.
+But quite certainly while you are here in Aix you are in imminent
+danger of losing it. You ought never to have kept it&mdash;it was madness
+to come here and run straight into the jaws of danger."</p>
+
+<p>"How was I to know?" she retorted, now quite angrily. "I really think
+it is too bad of you to reproach me. You are most unkind."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear," I said fretfully, "this is all beside the question. What
+is most urgent is to shield and save you now when the peril is most
+pressing."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet you propose to leave me to fight it out alone? Is that
+reasonable? Is it generous, chivalrous, to desert a poor woman in her
+extremity?"</p>
+
+<p>"I protest, you must not put it like that. I have explained the
+necessity. Surely you must see that it would be madness, quite fatal
+for us, to be seen together, or for you to be seen at all. I must
+still hoodwink them by going off this afternoon."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"And leave me without protection, with all I have at stake? If only
+Claire was here."</p>
+
+<p>"It wouldn't mend matters much, except that Lady Claire would side
+with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, you say that, you believe she thinks so much of you and your
+opinion that she would agree to anything you suggest."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine is the safest and the only course," I replied, I am afraid with
+some heat. "You must, you shall take it."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, Colonel Annesley, you speak to me as if I were a
+private soldier. Be good enough to remember that I am not under your
+orders. I claim to decide for myself how I shall act."</p>
+
+<p>She was no longer piteous or beseeching; her tears had dried, a flush
+of colour had risen to her cheeks, and it was evident that her despair
+had given place to very distinct temper.</p>
+
+<p>I was in a rage myself, and sprang to my feet with a sharp exclamation
+of disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Lady Henriette, you will drive me to wash my hands of the
+whole business. But I came into it to oblige your sister, and I owe it
+to her to do my best without reference to you. I have marked out a
+line for myself, and  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> I shall follow it. Unless you are disposed to
+change your views, I shall stick to mine; and I do not see the use of
+prolonging this interview. I will bid you good day."</p>
+
+<p>I moved towards the door, still keeping an eye on her, believing her
+to be quite set in her fatuous refusal to hear reason. She still held
+herself erect and defiant, and there seemed to be small hope of doing
+anything with her. Then suddenly I saw symptoms of giving way. Signals
+of distress were hung out in her quivering lip and the nervous
+twitching of her hands. All at once she broke down and cried
+passionately:</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no; you must not leave me&mdash;not like that. I cannot bear it; I
+am too miserable, too agitated, too terrified. I have no one to lean
+on but you. What shall I do? What shall I do?" And she collapsed into
+a chair, weeping as if her heart would break.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was awkward, embarrassing. At another time I might have
+been puzzled how to deal with it, but this was a moment of supreme
+emergency. A great crisis was imminent, the ruin of our scheme and the
+downfall of our hopes were certainly at hand if I gave way to her.
+Everything depended upon  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span> my action, and I knew that the only chance
+of safety lay in the execution of my design.</p>
+
+<p>This being so, her tears made no great impression on me. I may be
+called a hard-hearted brute, but I really had no great sympathy with
+her in her lamentations. It was not an occasion for tears, I felt; and
+I must be firm and unwavering, whatever she might think of me. I
+counted, at any rate, and with some assurance, on the approval of Lady
+Claire if the details of this painful scene should ever come to her
+ears.</p>
+
+<p>Nor could I wait till she chose to regain her composure. Time was too
+precious to be wasted in any attempts to win her back to common sense,
+and without waiting for permission I crossed the room, rang the bell,
+and begged the waiter to summon the lady's maid. She was a strongly
+built, matter-of-fact French woman, probably not easily disturbed; but
+she glanced apprehensively at her mistress, and turned a suspicious
+look on me.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better see to your lady," I said sharply. "She has an attack
+of nerves. I've no doubt it will soon pass, but I'm afraid I have
+imparted some distressing news. Be good enough to tell her when she
+recovers that  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> I shall come back in half an hour, when I trust she
+will be ready to accompany me."</p>
+
+<p>"What is this?" broke in Lady Henriette, suddenly interposing and
+evidently roused to deep interest in my words. "Accompany you? Where,
+I should like to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that of much consequence? You have entreated me not to leave you.
+Well, we shall not part; I propose to take you away with me. Do you
+object? It was your own wish."</p>
+
+<p>"I retract that. I will not go with you; certainly not in the dark.
+You must tell me first where you think of going, what you mean to do.
+Is it likely that I should trust myself alone with an almost complete
+stranger&mdash;a man who has shown me so little consideration, who has been
+so unkind, so cruel, and who now wants to carry me off goodness knows
+where, because he is so <i>obstinately determined</i> that his is the right
+way to proceed."</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Henriette," I said civilly but very coldly, and putting the drag
+on myself, for I confess she was trying me very hard, "let there be no
+misunderstanding between us. Either you consent to my proposals
+absolutely and unhesitatingly, or I shall withdraw altogether from
+your service. I have felt that I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> had a duty to Lady Claire, and I
+have been honestly anxious to discharge it, but by your present
+attitude I feel myself absolved from that duty. I am not unwilling to
+accept responsibility, but only if I am allowed to act as I please."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how like a man! Of course you must have your own way, and every
+one else must give in to you," she cried with aggravating emphasis,
+giving me no credit for trying to choose the wisest course.</p>
+
+<p>"I know I'm right," I urged, a little feebly perhaps, for I was nearly
+worn out by her prejudice and utterly illogical refusal to see how the
+land lay. But I quickly recovered myself, and said quite peremptorily,
+"You shall have half an hour to make up your mind, not a minute more,
+Lady Henriette. You shall give me my answer when I return. I warn you
+that I shall bring a carriage in half an hour, and I strongly advise
+you to be ready to start with me. Have everything packed, please, and
+the bill paid. I will take no denial, remember that."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I returned to my hotel vexed and irritated beyond measure by my
+passage at arms with Lady Henriette Standish, and hating the prospect
+of any further dealings with her. I very cordially echoed her repeated
+cry for Lady Claire. Matters would have been very different had her
+strong-minded sister been on the spot to use her influence and help us
+with her counsel. What a contrast between the two women! I was more
+and more drawn to the one, and more and more heartily despised the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>With my mind full of the beautiful creature who had made me a willing
+captive to her charms, her gracious presence was recalled to me by a
+message from under her own hand. As I passed the threshold of my
+hotel, the hall porter gave me a telegram from Lady Claire. It had
+come via London, but the office of origin was Marseilles.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span> </p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">"Reached so far, yesterday," it said. "One of them turned up
+this morning&mdash;have no fear&mdash;exchange not effected&mdash;shall
+remain here for the present&mdash;Hotel Terminus.<br  />
+
+<p class="quotsig">"Claire."</p></div>
+
+<p>I read and re-read this passage with a delightful feeling that it
+brought me into touch with my love, and I may be permitted for seeing
+in it clear proof of her bright wit and intelligence. She told me just
+exactly all that it was essential to know: of the pursuit, of the
+absence of pressing danger, of the abortive attempt to exchange
+babies, and where she was to be found. Suppose that I had not met Lady
+Henriette, I was fully prepared for anything that might occur.</p>
+
+<p>It was now barely 10 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, and the time intervening before
+the departure of the eastward bound express (three and a half hours)
+was none too much to carry out my intentions as to Lady Henriette.</p>
+
+<p>I first of all ordered a covered landau to be harnessed as speedily as
+possible, and to be sent to await me in a side street near the H&ocirc;tel
+Modena; then I summoned l'Echelle and bade him make all ready for the
+journey. I also told  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span> him that I should be busily engaged that
+forenoon; but that as I might be obliged to run it very close for the
+train, he was to make all preparations, to take the tickets, and await
+me on the platform. I had debated anxiously with myself how far I
+should betray the presence of Lady Henriette in Aix to l'Echelle, and
+decided that, although I had no particular reason to doubt him, I felt
+that it would be more prudent to keep the fact to myself. For the same
+reason I kept him busily engaged in my bedroom packing, lest he should
+spy upon my movements. There was still the fear that Falfani might be
+on the watch, but I had been assured by l'Echelle that the Blackadder
+party were so satisfied by the news he gave them that they left the
+business of shadowing almost entirely to him.</p>
+
+<p>I was pretty sure that I reached the H&ocirc;tel Modena unobserved. I came
+upon the carriage by the way, and as I passed briefly desired the
+driver to follow me to the H&ocirc;tel Modena. Arriving there, I sent up my
+name, and followed it, a little unceremoniously, to Lady Henriette's
+sitting-room.</p>
+
+<p>She was there, dressed in hat and jacket, and so far disposed to
+comply with my wishes.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span> Her maid, Victorine, was with her, the baby on
+her knee. Her baggage, happily light enough, was there, packed and all
+ready for a start.</p>
+
+<p>But if I thought that Lady Henriette meant to yield without another
+skirmish I was sadly mistaken. I was in for much more than a skirmish;
+it was to be a battle royal.</p>
+
+<p>"The carriage is at the door," I said as pleasantly as possible. "We
+have nearly an hour's drive before us, and I am delighted to think
+that you are ready and willing to go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready, as you see, but not willing," she answered, bridling up
+with a scornful air. "Very much the reverse indeed. The more I think
+over it the more outrageous and preposterous your behaviour seems.
+Where are we going? I insist upon knowing. I must have a plain
+categorical answer or I will not move an inch." Her dogged, determined
+air was belied by her dress and the obvious preparations already made
+for departure. Her present attitude I set down to the vacillation of
+her character. She might make up her mind one moment and one way, and
+yet be quite prepared to change it the next.</p>
+
+<p>"You are fully entitled to know where you  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> are going, and I have not
+the smallest desire to keep it from you," I replied, still speaking in
+a smooth, courteous voice. "I propose that you should take up your
+residence for a time&mdash;the very shortest time possible&mdash;at Le Bourget,
+a small place at the head of the lake. You may know it; there is a
+snug little hotel in the village, the Dent du Chat. You will like it."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not like it. I dislike the whole idea exceedingly. Why should
+I be buried alive in such an out-of-the-way spot?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be no worse than Fuentellato, a place you chose for
+yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a house of my own there&mdash;my own servants. It is perfectly
+safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Not now, believe me, they will come upon you there; trace you easily
+and quickly, and they are capable of any violence to capture and
+deprive you of your treasure." I pointed to the child on the maid's
+knee.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be more at their mercy here in Aix."</p>
+
+<p>"Be guided by me. I am certain of what I say. All will be well if you
+will only keep out of the way now for a few hours, perhaps at most a
+couple of days. If they do not find you at  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span> once they will never find
+you. Only let me have a short start ahead and I'll lead them a pretty
+dance, and take them further and further away. You may rely on it, and
+I assure you they will never be able to find you or do you any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could believe you," she said. "If I could only believe in
+you and trust you as Claire does," she murmured pathetically, still
+tortured by doubt. "Why has Claire deserted me? If she were only here,
+or I knew where to find her!"</p>
+
+<p>I was on the point of imparting my last news, but I checked myself.
+Lady Henriette had seen her last, and must be well aware of the
+direction she was taking to Lyons and Marseilles. It would only
+unsettle her to know that her sister was at Marseilles to-day, and
+would be at Genoa to-morrow. She would be mad to join her, and it was
+my most earnest wish that, for the present at least, Lady Henriette
+should keep quiet in the background with her charge.</p>
+
+<p>"You will soon be able to communicate with her, no doubt. Of course
+you arranged that at Culoz?"</p>
+
+<p>"We arranged nothing. It was all so hurried, and we had much to talk
+about. She was  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span> so hard on me when I declared I could not part with my
+blessed boy. We had words&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" I had heard enough to know that there had been a strong
+difference of opinion, a sharp quarrel probably, and that Lady Claire
+had not spared her sister at this fresh exhibition of ridiculous
+weakness.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask, please, whether you were to believe in me or not?" I
+resumed, taking up the discussion where I had left it. "We must be
+moving if we are to go at all."</p>
+
+<p>Her acquiescence, now tardily given, was surly and ungracious.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I cannot help myself; I am quite at your mercy. You may be
+sure I shall not easily forget this, or forgive your overbearing
+treatment. I will go, but under protest."</p>
+
+<p>She led the way herself and entered the carriage first, motioning to
+Victorine to hand her the baby and take her seat inside. She made no
+such sign to me, although I followed close behind. But I also got in
+without invitation, only explaining that it might not be wise to show
+myself on the box.</p>
+
+<p>The coachman had his orders, and he drove off briskly along the
+Marlioz road till he reached the turning towards the head of the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> lake. In less than an hour we pulled up before the H&ocirc;tel Dent du
+Chat, a simple, unpretending hostelry, to which I had telegraphed in
+advance, stating my needs. We were received with profuse civility, the
+best of everything placed at our disposal, a best at which Lady
+Henriette, as I might have expected, turned up her nose, sniffing and
+scornful.</p>
+
+<p>She uttered no complaint, she would not address a word to me; her air
+was one of lofty, contemptuous reserve; she intimated plainly that we
+were "dead cuts."</p>
+
+<p>Only at the last, just as I was driving away and lifted my hat in
+farewell, she yielded to an impulse of despair, and seized my arm in
+almost frenzied appeal.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not, you cannot desert me; I will not be left like this. No
+man, no gentleman would do it. I beg and implore you to remain within
+reach, somewhere near at any rate. I can never face this place alone."</p>
+
+<p>Her last appeal touched me to the quick. Once more I sought to explain
+the dire necessity for this act that seemed so barbarous, but she was
+deaf to all my arguments, and still clung to me nervously as I climbed
+into the carriage.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> </p>
+
+<p>When at length I got away, and I persisted in leaving, being so fully
+satisfied it was for the best, her piteous, reproachful accents still
+rung in my ears, and I shall count that return drive to Aix as the
+most miserable hour I have passed in my life.</p>
+
+<p>The whole episode had occupied much time, and it was already past one
+when I re&euml;ntered the town. I drove straight to the railway station,
+and was met outside it by the faithful l'Echelle.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, monsieur, will you believe it? They have gone half an hour
+ago, and not by the eastern but the western express."</p>
+
+<p>"You saw them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I spoke to them. Falfani himself told me of the change in their
+plans. The latest news from their man in the south was so positive,
+and has so convinced my lord, that he is hastening full speed to join
+Tiler, and they are only too delighted to leave you behind."</p>
+
+<p>I laughed aloud with intense satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not mind, monsieur? You have no reason to fear them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the least in the world, they are playing into my hands. I, too,
+have changed my plans. I shall now remain in Aix for some  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> time
+longer. I shall be glad to go on with the baths."</p>
+
+<p>But I was thinking really of that poor creature I had abandoned at Le
+Bourget, and overjoyed to think that I might now meet her wishes, and
+perchance regain something of her good-will.</p>
+
+<p>Once more I took the road to Le Bourget, driving over by the first
+<i>fiacre</i> I could pick up on the stand, a much slower journey than the
+first, and it was nearly 3 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> when I reached the little
+hotel.</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed a day of surprises, of strange emotions and moving
+incidents.</p>
+
+<p>When I alighted and asked for "Mrs. Blair," I was answered abruptly
+that she was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone? When? How?" I cried, in utter amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame went very soon after monsieur," said the <i>patronne</i>, in high
+dudgeon. "She was not complimentary, she said this place was too
+<i>triste</i>, that it got on her nerves. She called me up and said I was
+to bring her the <i>Indicateur</i>. Then she must have a carriage as soon
+as it could be prepared to drive her to Culoz, fifteen  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> miles away,
+meaning to take the train from there."</p>
+
+<p>"Not to Aix?"</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly not, for when I suggested that she could more easily find
+the train there she told me to hold my tongue, that she knew very well
+what she was about, and wanted no observations from me."</p>
+
+<p>To Culoz? She was bound then to follow her sister, I felt sure of it;
+and I was aghast, foreshadowing the new dangers opening before her.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h4>[<i>The Lady Claire Standish has her say.</i>]</h4>
+
+<p>It was as much as I could do to restrain myself when I saw my gallant
+knight, the Colonel, rush at that despicable creature, Lord
+Blackadder, and shake him. I wanted to put my head out of the window
+and cry, "Well done!" But I saw the folly of it, much as I was
+delighted, and checked any demonstration of joy. I had no time to
+spare for anything outside our settled plan, so I jumped out on to the
+platform at once, and closely followed by Philpotts joined Henriette,
+and cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Quick, quick, dear, the train goes on in less than ten minutes. Give
+me the child, we must exchange again."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" she gasped, and looked at me dazed and bewildered.
+"Why should I part with my boy, my own boy! I cannot, indeed I cannot.
+Why? Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because Blackadder is over there, and in  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span> another minute or two the
+child will be taken forcibly from you. Luckily I can still save it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but please, Claire, please explain. I do not understand, not in
+the least. What am I to do? I haven't heard, I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on to Fuentellato with the dummy. It is the easiest thing in the
+world. They will follow you, Colonel Annesley will see to that, while
+I carry our darling to some secure hiding-place and keep out of sight
+until we can meet. There, do not, for heaven's sake, delay. Give me
+the child."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't, I can't. I will not part with it. My own, my precious babe.
+Never. Nothing will induce me."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, Henriette, you are too aggravating and impossible. To
+think that now at the eleventh hour you should fail me and break down.
+Are you going to spoil everything! Let me take little Ralph;" and I
+put out my arms for the child, which Victorine held.</p>
+
+<p>But the mother stood between us, seized the baby convulsively, and
+with a gesture of repulsion cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Go away, go away, you shall not have him.  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span> I don't care what happens,
+I will keep him against all the world."</p>
+
+<p>I pleaded and stormed in turn, I tried everything but force, all
+without avail. My foolish sister seemed to have taken leave of her
+senses; she thought nothing of the nearly certain collapse of our
+schemes, her one overmastering idea was, like any tigress, to resist
+all attempts to deprive her of her cub.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the time ran on. Already the officials were crying "<i>En
+voiture</i>," and I knew my train was timed to leave at five minutes past
+8 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> If I lingered I should lose it, no great matter
+perhaps, seeing that the exchange, my principal object, had not been
+made; but if I remained with Henriette, she with her baby and I with
+mine, the whole of the artifice might at any moment be laid bare.</p>
+
+<p>I had to decide then and there, and all I could think of at the time
+was to keep the enemy in the dark as to the doubled part of the baby.
+At first I thought of sending Philpotts on alone with her charge and
+remaining with Henriette. She was so helpless, so weak and vacillating
+that I had small hope of her getting through to Fuentellato by
+herself. That was clearly the wisest course, and I should have taken
+it, but  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span> I was sorely vexed and put out by her obstinate refusal to
+play her part; and I told her so.</p>
+
+<p>"Once more and for the last time, Henriette, will you do what I want?"
+I asked her peremptorily.</p>
+
+<p>She only hugged her baby the closer and whispered a soft lullaby.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall go on with the other. It may be best. They may still be
+drawn after me, and leave you to your own devices. The only thing for
+you to do is to take the first train the other way,&mdash;it will be here
+in ten minutes,&mdash;keep low and you may get through into Italy
+unobserved."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you really deserting me?" she cried piteously. "When shall I see
+you again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall go round the long journey to Marseilles, by the South of
+France, and will join you at Fuentellato. There is no reason why you
+should not get there. Colonel Annesley will detain the others here,
+you may be sure of that. Good-bye, now," and without another word
+Philpotts and I ran round, regained the up platform, resumed our seats
+by the narrowest margin and proceeded on our way to Amberieu.</p>
+
+<p>The reaction from this agitating scene was  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span> little less than despair
+and collapse. So soon as I could bring myself to think calmly and at
+leisure, I realized that I had done a very foolish thing. Was it
+possible for Henriette to get off by herself? Hardly, she had not the
+nerve, I had almost said the wit, to escape alone from the toils and
+snares that encompassed her. I blamed myself, I became a prey to the
+bitterest self-reproach for having abandoned her, for allowing myself
+to give way to temper, and treat her so cruelly. As the train rattled
+on, one thought took possession of me. I must get out and go back
+instantly, at least at the very first opportunity. I must retrace my
+steps and return again to Culoz, where I hoped to be in time to
+support and strengthen her, please God save her from the consequences
+of my unkind and ill-considered action.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, at the very next station, Virieu, I alighted. It was
+still no more than 8.21. In less than an hour I was in the return
+train and once more at Culoz, where, sending Philpotts to hide with
+her charge in the inmost recesses of the ladies' waiting-room, I
+vainly explored the station for any signs of Henriette, but to my
+delight she was nowhere in sight. I was fairly entitled to suppose
+that she had gone on.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span> </p>
+
+<p>The place was still in a turmoil, the consequences no doubt of the
+affray expressly begun by Colonel Annesley to befriend me. I narrowly
+escaped being seen by some of my enemies, but they were evidently too
+much preoccupied by their indignation at the outrage put upon that
+great personage, Lord Blackadder. I passed within an inch or two of my
+gallant Colonel and was sorely tempted to speak to him, but was
+deterred by the possible mischief it might entail.</p>
+
+<p>I was relieved when they all took seats in the eastward bound train,
+going only as far as Aix-les-Bains, where, as I heard it stated by the
+Culoz officials, the case was to be submitted to the Commissary of
+Police. I felt sure that my gallant Colonel would hold his own, I felt
+no very great concern for him. Although not fully satisfied as to
+Henriette, I was so far satisfied by coming upon all the parties,
+Ralph, Blackadder, and the rest, at Culoz, that she had disappeared
+from the scene without interference.</p>
+
+<p>I had now to decide upon my own movements. I debated with myself
+whether I should not follow my sister to Fuentellato, to which I made
+sure she had gone, and I had every reason to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> hope that I could
+eventually join her there. But it seemed to be throwing away that same
+chance of mystification which I had always kept in view, which might
+have served me so well but for her weakness, and I still clung to my
+hope of drawing them after me on the wrong scent.</p>
+
+<p>At one time I thought of venturing boldly into their midst and
+appearing openly at Aix; but this would probably end in abruptly
+pricking the bubble, and nothing more was to be done. I thought of
+sending Philpotts to hunt up the Colonel and convey a letter to him
+detailing my situation, and was much taken with this idea, which I
+presently rejected because I did not clearly see what good could come
+of it. I was tortured with doubts, unable to decide for the best, and
+at last, from sheer inability to choose, resolved to adhere to my
+original plan of travelling south.</p>
+
+<p>I would at least go to Marseilles, which I could reach that very
+night, and once there would be guided by circumstances, seeking only
+to control them to the extent of reporting my whereabouts to Henriette
+at Fuentellato, and to the Colonel via London as arranged.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> </p>
+
+<p>This as it proved was the very wisest course I could have adopted, as
+will presently appear.</p>
+
+<p>I was doomed to a long wait at Culoz. There was no train due westward
+till 12.40, and I had to put in nearly three solid hours, which I
+spent in wandering into the village, where I found an unpretending
+<i>auberge</i> and a rather uneatable breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere I was met with wearisome delays. A slow train to Amberieu,
+a still slower cross journey to Lyons, which I did not reach till
+nearly 4 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, and learnt that another hour or more must
+elapse before the departure of the next Marseilles express.</p>
+
+<p>The journey seemed interminable, but just as I was losing all
+patience, I received a fillip that awoke me to alertness, and set all
+my nerves tingling.</p>
+
+<p>The man Tiler, the second detective, the man whom I had already
+befooled more than once, was there now on the platform, waiting like
+myself to embark upon the 5.19 train south to Marseilles.</p>
+
+<p>He had come after me; that was perfectly clear. He, and he alone, and
+I rejoiced greatly that I had to do entirely with him. I had tried my
+strength with him more than once already,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> and felt myself his equal
+in guile. Although he owed me a grudge and would certainly be upon his
+guard, I thought myself strong enough to face and outwit him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When I first caught sight of Mr. Ludovic Tiler he was busily engaged
+in conversation with one of the guards and a couple of porters. From
+his gestures, no doubt, he was describing our party, and I was
+half-inclined to walk up to him and say "Behold!" But then I drew back
+hesitating. I did not fear him in the least, but he would be sure to
+draw the others to him, and I did not quite like the idea of having
+three of them on my hands at once, and with no Colonel on my side.</p>
+
+<p>I could only communicate with Colonel Annesley by a roundabout
+process, and it might take him some time to reach me, even if he was
+not otherwise engaged by Henriette.</p>
+
+<p>This Tiler man would of course stick to me and follow me if he had the
+faintest clue, and I let him have that by directing Philpotts to show
+herself, passing quite close to him and walking on towards the train.
+She was to return then to the waiting-room, where together  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> we made
+some change in our appearance. There were other cloaks in the bundle
+of rugs, which we put on over those we were wearing. I got out a thick
+veil, and Philpotts replaced her neat bonnet by a soft motor cap. More
+than all, we made away with the dummy child, broke up the parcel,
+resolved it into its component parts, a small pillow and many wraps,
+all of which we put away in the same convenient receptacle.</p>
+
+<p>Tiler certainly did not recognize us as we walked separately to the
+train. He was looking for a party of two and a baby, and all he saw
+was one woman who might remind him of me, but without her attendant or
+any encumbrance. He had his suspicions, however, for as soon as we
+started he walked through the long line of <i>couloir</i> carriages,
+deliberately peering and prying, examining the passengers of every
+compartment. He passed us at first, and was much put out, I could see,
+disappointed no doubt, but he came back presently and stood for some
+time at our window, while I hid my face in among the rugs, and
+Philpotts cowered in a corner.</p>
+
+<p>He came back more than once during the journey and stared. No doubt he
+would have  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> taken a seat in our compartment, but it was reserved for
+<i>dames seules</i> or ladies alone. He was evidently in great doubt, so
+much so that I began to fear he would sheer off altogether. That we
+were the women he wanted was probably borne in on him, but what had
+become of the baby? I could enter into the workings of his mind on
+that point. What could we have done with it? Hidden it, left it
+somewhere on the road in the lost property office or at a foundling
+hospital? All sorts of suggestions probably presented themselves to
+him, but none would satisfy him; for why, he would reason, were we
+travelling to Marseilles or anywhere else without it?</p>
+
+<p>To tie him still to our heels, I took the opportunity of having the
+compartment to ourselves to revive and reconstitute the dummy. The
+baby was quickly reborn behind the drawn blinds of the carriage, and
+when at last we arrived at Marseilles at 10.30 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> we
+sallied forth and marched in solemn procession to the Terminus Hotel
+under the very eyes of our watchful detective. I almost laughed in his
+face as we entered the lift near the outer door, and were carried up
+to our rooms upon the second floor.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span> </p>
+
+<p>I slept late, and when I woke, refreshed and fortified against
+anything that might come, I looked out on to the little square with
+its fringe of plane-trees, and saw my friend Mr. Tiler walking to and
+fro like a sentry on his beat. He had the hotel under observation that
+was clear, and it was little I should be able to do that day unknown
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>It did not worry me in the least, for in the early hours of calm
+reflection that followed deep, restful sleep, I had thought out the
+course I should pursue. I no longer dreaded pursuit; let them all
+come, the more the merrier, and I meant to fully justify Mr. Tiler in
+calling them to him.</p>
+
+<p>I dressed slowly, lingered leisurely over my <i>luncheon-d&eacute;jeuner</i>, and
+then ordered a carriage, a comfortable landau and pair. I meant to
+lead my follower a fine dance, starting with the innocent intention of
+giving myself and my belongings an airing. It was a brilliant day, the
+Southern sun struck with semi-tropical fervour, the air was soft and
+sleepy in the oppressive heat. I brought out the baby undeterred, and
+installed it, slumbering peacefully, on Philpotts's knees in the seat
+before me, and lying  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> back with ostentatious indifference, drove off
+in full view of the detective.</p>
+
+<p>I shot one glance back as I turned down the long slope leading to the
+Gr&acirc;ce-&agrave;-Dieu Street, and was pleased to see that he had jumped into a
+<i>fiacre</i> and was coming on after me. He should have his fill of
+driving. I led him up and down and round and round, street after
+street, all along the great Cannebi&egrave;re and out towards the Reserve,
+where Roubion's Restaurant offers his celebrated fish stew,
+<i>bouillabaise</i>, to all comers.</p>
+
+<p>Then when Mr. Tiler's weedy horse began to show signs of distress, for
+my sturdy pair had outpaced him sorely, I relented and re&euml;ntered the
+town, meaning to make a long halt at the office of Messrs. Cook and
+Son, the universal friends of all travellers far and near. I had long
+had an idea in my mind that the most promising, if not the only
+effective method of ending our trouble would be to put the seas
+between us and the myrmidons of the Courts. I had always hoped to
+escape to some far-off country where the King's writ does not run,
+where we could settle down under genial skies, amid pleasant
+surroundings, at a distance from the worries and miseries of life.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Now, with the enemy close at hand, and the real treasure in my foolish
+sister's care, I could not expect to evade them, but I might surely
+beguile and lead them astray. This was the plan I had been revolving
+in my mind, and which took me to the tourist offices. The object I had
+in view was to get a list of steamers leaving the port of Marseilles
+within the next two or three days, and their destination. As everybody
+knows, there is a constant moving of shipping East, West, and South,
+and it ought not to be difficult to pick out something to suit me.</p>
+
+<p>The obliging clerk at the counter gave me abundant, almost unending,
+information.</p>
+
+<p>"To the East? Why, surely, there are several opportunities. The P. and
+O. has half a dozen steamers for the East, pointing first for Port
+Said and Suez Canal, and bound to India, Ceylon, China, and the
+Antipodes; the same line for Gibraltar and the West. The Messag&eacute;ries
+Maritime, for all Mediterranean ports, the General Navigation of Italy
+for Genoa and Naples, the Transatlantique for various Algerian ports,
+Tunis, B&ocirc;ne, Philippeville, and Algiers, other companies serving the
+coast of Morocco and especially Tangier."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span> </p>
+
+<p>Truly an embarrassing choice! I took a note of all that suited, and
+promised to return after I had made a round of the shipping
+offices,&mdash;another jaunt for Tiler, and a pretty plain indication of
+what was in my mind.</p>
+
+<p>After full inquiry I decided in favour of Tripoli, and for several
+reasons. A steamer offered in a couple of days, Sunday, just when I
+wanted it, although it was by no means my intention to go to Tripoli
+myself. That it was somewhat out of the way, neither easy to reach nor
+to leave, as the steamers came and went rarely, served my purpose
+well. If I could only inveigle my tormentors into the trap, they might
+be caught there longer than they liked.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, I secured a good cabin on board the S.S. <i>Oasis</i> of the
+Transatlantique, leaving Marseilles for Tripoli at 8 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> the
+following Sunday, and paid the necessary deposit on the passage
+ticket.</p>
+
+<p>It was a satisfaction to me to see my "shadow's" <i>fiacre</i> draw up at
+the door soon after I left, and Mr. Ludovic Tiler enter the office. I
+made no doubt he would contrive, very cleverly as he thought, to find
+out exactly what I had been doing with regard to the <i>Oasis</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Later in the day, out of mere curiosity, I  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> walked down to the offices
+to ask a trivial question about my baggage. It was easy to turn the
+talk to other matters connected with the voyage and my fellow
+passengers.</p>
+
+<p>Several other cabins had been engaged, two of them in the name of
+Ludovic Tiler.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing left for me but to bide my time. I telegraphed that
+evening to Colonel Annesley, reporting myself, so to speak, and
+counted upon hearing his whereabouts in reply next day.</p>
+
+<p>Tiler did not show up nor trouble me, nor did I concern myself about
+him. We were really waiting for each other, and we knew enough of each
+other's plans to bide in tranquil expectation of what we thought must
+certainly follow. When I was at dinner in the hotel restaurant he
+calmly came into the room, merely to pass his eye over me as it were,
+and I took it so much as a matter of course that I looked up, and felt
+half-inclined to give him a friendly nod. We were like duellists
+saluting each other before we crossed swords, each relying upon his
+own superior skill.</p>
+
+<p>[<i>We need not reproduce in detail the rest of the matters set forth by
+Lady Claire Standish while she and the detective watched each other</i>
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> <i>at Marseilles. Tiler, on the Saturday morning, made it plain, from
+his arrogance and self-sufficient air as he walked through the hotel
+restaurant, that all was going well, and he had indeed heard from
+Falfani that he would arrive with Lord Blackadder that night.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Later on that Saturday a telegram from Culoz reached Lady Claire from
+Colonel Annesley giving the latest news, and bringing down Lady
+Henriette's movements to the time of her departure for Marseilles. He
+promised a later message from somewhere along the road with later
+information, and soon after 9</i> <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> <i>Lady Claire was told
+they were coming through by the night train, due at Marseilles at 4</i>
+<span class="smcap">a.m.</span> <i>next morning. Thus all the parties to this imbroglio
+were about to be concentrated in the same place, and it must depend
+upon the skill and determination of one clever woman to turn events
+her way.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>She goes on to say:</p>
+
+<p>It was a shock to me to hear that Henriette still lingered on the
+fringe of danger, and I was very much disturbed at finding she might
+be running into the very teeth of it. But I trusted to my good
+fortune, and, better still, to good  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span> management, to keep her out of
+harm's way until the coast was clear.</p>
+
+<p>I was on the platform at 10 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> watching for the Blackadder
+lot when they appeared. Tiler was there to receive them and spoke a
+few words to my lord, who instantly looked round, for me no doubt, and
+I slipped away. I did not wish to anticipate a crisis, and he was
+quite capable of making a scene, even at the hotel at that time of
+night. I was relieved at seeing him pass on, and the more so that he
+did not take the turn into the Terminus Hotel, my hotel, but went
+towards the entrance where a carriage was waiting for him. He meant of
+course to put up in the town, either at the Noailles or the Louvre.</p>
+
+<p>I lay down to take a short rest, but was roused in time to be again on
+the platform at 4 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> to meet my friends. It was a joyful
+meeting, but we lost little time over it. Henriette was fairly worn
+out, and all but broke down when she saw me. The Colonel came to the
+rescue as usual, and said briefly, after we had shaken hands:</p>
+
+<p>"Take charge of her, Lady Claire, I will see to everything now. We can
+talk later."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you be at the entrance to the hotel in  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span> a couple of hours' time?
+I shall want your advice, probably your assistance."</p>
+
+<p>"You know you have only to ask," he answered, with the prompt,
+soldierlike obedience, and the honest, unflinching look in his eyes
+that I knew so well and loved in him. Here was, indeed, a brave, loyal
+soul, to be trusted in implicitly, and with my whole heart.</p>
+
+<p>I felt now that I should succeed in the difficult task I had set
+myself. The plan I had conceived and hoped to work out was to send
+Lord Blackadder to sea, all the way to Tripoli, with Philpotts and the
+sham child.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We drove down, Philpotts and I, to the wharf where the steamers of the
+Transatlantique Company lie. The <i>Oasis</i> had her blue peter flying,
+and a long gangway stretched from her side to the shore, up and down
+which a crowd passed ceaselessly, passengers embarking, porters with
+luggage, and dock hands with freight. At the top of the slope was the
+chief steward and his men, in full dress, white shirts, white ties,
+and white gloves, who welcomed us, asking the number of our stateroom,
+and offering to relieve us of our light baggage.</p>
+
+<p>One put out his arms to take the baby from Philpotts, but she shook
+her head vigorously, and I cried in French that it was too precious.</p>
+
+<p>Next moment a voice I recognized said:</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly they are there, and they have it with them. Why not seize
+it at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so fast, Lord Blackadder," I interposed, turning on him fiercely.
+"No violence,  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span> if you please, or you may make the acquaintance of
+another police commissary."</p>
+
+<p>I had heard the whole story of the affair at Aix from the Colonel, who
+I may say at once I had seen shortly before, and who was at no great
+distance now.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, Philpotts, get down below and lock yourself in," I said
+boldly. "Our cabin is thirty-seven&mdash;" checking myself abruptly as
+though I had been too outspoken.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Lady Claire, permit me," it was Lord Blackadder behind, speaking
+with quite insinuating softness. "Do be more reasonable. Surely you
+perceive how this must end? Let me entreat you not to drive me to
+extremities. I mean to have the child, understand that; but we ought
+to be able to arrange this between us. Give it up to me of your own
+accord, you shall not regret it. Ask what you choose, anything&mdash;a
+pearl collar or a diamond bracelet&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you really be such a base hound, such an abject and contemptible
+creature, as to propose terms of that sort to me? How dare you think
+so ill of me? Let me pass; I cannot stay here, it would poison me to
+breathe the same air. Never speak to me again," I almost  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span> shouted,
+filled with bitter shame and immeasurable scorn, and I turned and left
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Down-stairs I found Philpotts in the cabin, busily engaged in putting
+her "doll" to bed in the third berth.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you at all afraid of being left with these wretches?" I asked a
+little doubtfully, counting upon her devotion, but loth to lay too
+great a burden on her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how can you suppose such a thing, my lady? What can they do to
+me? They will be furiously angry, of course, but the laugh will be
+against them. If the worst comes to the worst they will appeal to the
+captain, and they will get no satisfaction from him. I can take care
+of myself, never fear. You shall hear from Tripoli to the same hotel
+in Marseilles."</p>
+
+<p>"If we go on your letter will follow us. Come back there as soon as
+you possibly can and you will find further instructions. Now it must
+be good-bye, there goes the bell to warn people ashore. One last word:
+I advise you when well out to sea to go to my lord and offer to go
+over to his side and desert me altogether. Tell him you will help him
+to get the child,&mdash;that you will put it into his hands indeed,&mdash;at a
+price."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"As if I would touch his dirty money, my lady!"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be only spoiling the Egyptians! Squeeze all you can out of
+him, I say. But that is as you please. You know I shall always be your
+firm friend whatever you do, and that I shall never forget what I owe
+you."</p>
+
+<p>I should have said much more, but now the second bell was ringing, and
+if I was to carry out my scheme it was time for me to go.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the cabin I walked forward along the lower deck seeking
+another issue, the position of which I had fixed the day before,
+having visited the <i>Oasis</i> on purpose. In a minute I had emerged into
+the open air, and found myself in the midst of the sailors sending
+down cargo into the forehold. I should have been utterly confused,
+bewildered, and terrified, but I felt a strong, firm hand close on
+mine, and a quiet, steady voice in my ear.</p>
+
+<p>"This way, Lady Claire, only a couple of steps," said the Colonel as
+he led me to the side of the steamer farthest from the shore. A ladder
+was fixed here and a boat was made fast to the lowest rung. Carefully,
+tenderly guided by my ever trusty henchman I made the descent, took my
+seat in the stern of the small  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span> boat, it was cast loose, and we pushed
+off into the waterway. Half an hour later we were back at the Terminus
+Hotel.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in all that stirring and eventful week I breathed
+freely. At any rate the present peril was overpast, we had eluded
+pursuit, and had a clear time of perfect security to consider our
+situation and look ahead.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Henriette was visible, I went up to her room to talk
+matters over. She was very humble and apologetic, and disarmed me if I
+had intended to take her to task for all the trouble and anxiety she
+had caused us. But when I magnanimously said, "I am not going to scold
+you," she was in my arms at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Scold me! I should think not! I have been scolded quite enough these
+last twenty-four hours. I never met a man I disliked so much as your
+fine friend, that Colonel Annesley, the rudest, most presuming,
+overbearing wretch. He talked to me and ordered me about as if I was
+still in the schoolroom, he actually dared to find fault with my
+actions, and dictated to me what I should do next. I&mdash;I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Did it, Henriette? Like a lamb, eh? That's a way he has, my dear," I
+laughed.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"I don't envy you one bit, Claire. You'll be a miserable woman. You
+hate to give way, and he'll make you. He'll tame you, and lord it over
+you, he'll be a hard, a cruel master, for all he thinks so much of you
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"And does he?" What sweeter music in a woman's ear than to be told of
+the sway she exercises over the man of her choice?</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course, he thinks all the world of you. He would say nothing,
+decide nothing until you had been consulted. Your word is law to him,
+your name always on his lips. You know of your latest conquest, I
+suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are things one does not care to discuss, my dear, even with
+one's sister," I answered, rather coldly. I was a little hurt by her
+tone and manner, although what she told me gave me exquisite pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come," Henriette rallied me. "Make a clean breast of it.
+Confess that you are over head and ears in love with your Colonel. Why
+not? You are free to choose, I was not," and her eyes filled with
+tears at the sad shipwreck of her married life.</p>
+
+<p>I strove hard to calm her, to console her, pointing to her little
+Ralph, and promising her a future of happiness with her child.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"If I am allowed to keep him, yes. But how can I keep him after that
+wicked decision of the Court, and with such a persistent enemy as
+Ralph Blackadder? For the moment we are safe, but by and by he will
+come back, he will leave no stone unturned until he finds me, and I
+shall lose my darling for ever."</p>
+
+<p>The hopelessness of evading pursuit for any time sorely oppressed me,
+too. There seemed no safety but in keeping continually on the move, in
+running to and fro and changing our hiding place so soon as danger of
+discovery loomed near. We were like pariahs ostracized from our
+fellows, wandering Jews condemned to roam on and on, forbidden to
+pause or find peace anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, after a pleasant <i>d&eacute;jeuner</i>, the three of us held a council of
+war.</p>
+
+<p>"The thing is perfectly simple," said my dear Colonel, in his
+peremptory, but to me reassuring fashion. "I have thought it all out
+and can promise you immediate escape from all your difficulties. You
+must go as quickly as you can get there, to Tangier."</p>
+
+<p>"Tangier!" I cried, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Lady Claire, Tangier. It is the only refuge left for
+criminals&mdash;forgive me, I mean  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span> no offence," and he laughed heartily as
+he went on. "You have broken the law, you are flying from the law, and
+you are amenable to it all the world over, save and except in Morocco
+alone. You must go to Tangier, there is no extradition, the King's
+warrant does not run there. You will be perfectly safe if you elect to
+stay there, safe for the rest of your days."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem very anxious to get rid of us and bury us at the back of
+beyond," I said, nettled and unable to conceal my chagrin at the
+matter-of-fact way in which he wished to dispose of us.</p>
+
+<p>"I venture to hope I may be permitted to accompany you, and remain
+with you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>It was now Henriette's turn to laugh outright at this rather blunt
+proposal, and I regret to add that I blushed a rosy red.</p>
+
+<p>"To remain with you and near you so long as my services may be
+required," he went on, gravely, by no means the interpretation my
+sister had put upon his remark; for he fixed his eyes on me with
+unmistakable meaning, and held them so fixedly that I could not look
+away. There could no longer be any doubt how "it stood with us;" my
+heart went out to him then and there, and I nodded involuntarily, more
+in  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span> answer to his own thoughts than his suggestion. I knew from the
+gladness on his frank, handsome face that he understood and rejoiced.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," he went on, quickly, dealing with the pressing matter in
+hand, "I know all about the place. I have soldiered at Gibraltar and
+often went over to Africa. It's not half bad, Tangier, decent hotels,
+villas furnished if you prefer it. Sport in the season, and plenty of
+galloping ground. The point is, how we should travel?"</p>
+
+<p>I could be of service in this; my inquiries at Cook's had qualified me
+to act as a shipping clerk, and we soon settled to take a steamer of
+the Bibby Line due that afternoon, which would land us at Gibraltar in
+two or three days. Thence to Tangier was only like crossing a ferry.
+The Colonel's man, l'Echelle, was sent to secure cabins, and we caught
+the ship in due course. Three days later we were soon comfortably
+settled in the Hotel Atlas, just above the wide sweep of sands that
+encircle the bay. It was the season of fierce heat, but we faced the
+northern breezes full of invigorating ozone.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Tangier, the wildest, quaintest, most savage spot on the face of the
+globe, was to me the most enchanting. Our impressions take their
+colour from the passing mood; we like or loathe a place according to
+the temper in which we view it. I was so utterly and foolishly happy
+in this most Eastern city located in the West that I have loved it
+deeply ever since. After the trying and eventful episodes of the past
+week I had passed into a tranquil haven filled with perfect peace. The
+whole tenor of my life had changed, the feverish excitement was gone,
+no deep anxiety vexed or troubled me, all my cares were transferred to
+stronger shoulders than mine. I could calmly await the issue, content
+to enjoy the moment and forget the past like a bad dream.</p>
+
+<p>It was sufficient to bask in the sunshine, revelling in the free air,
+rejoicing in the sweetness of my nascent love. We were much together,
+Basil and I; we walked together, exploring the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span> recesses of the native
+town, and the ancient citadel, with its memories of British dominion;
+we lingered in the Soko or native market, crowded with wild creatures
+from the far interior; we rode together, for his first care was to
+secure horses, and scoured the country as far as the Marshan and Cape
+Spartel. I sometimes reproached myself with being so happy, while my
+darling Henriette still sorrowfully repined at her past, with little
+hope of better days. But even she brightened as the days ran on and
+brought no fresh disquiet, while her boy, sweet little Ralph,
+developed in health and strength.</p>
+
+<p>A week passed thus, a week of unbroken quiet, flawless as the
+unchanging blue of a summer sky; not a cloud in sight, not a suspicion
+of coming disturbance and unrest. It could not go on like this for
+ever. To imagine it was to fall asleep in a fool's paradise, lulled
+into false serenity by the absence of portents so often shrouded and
+unseen until they break upon us.</p>
+
+<p>One day a cablegram reached me from Philpotts. She had arrived at
+Marseilles on her return voyage from Tripoli, and was anxious that I
+should know without delay that we had not shaken off Lord Blackadder.
+They had  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span> recrossed the Mediterranean together in the same ship, the
+<i>Oasis</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"So far all well," she said, "but am watched closely, will certainly
+follow me&mdash;send instructions&mdash;better not join you at present."</p>
+
+<p>This message fell on us two poor women like a bolt from the blue.
+Basil looked serious for a moment, but then laughed scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"His lordship can do us no harm. There is not the slightest fear. He
+may bluster and bully as much as he pleases, or rather, as far as he
+is permitted to go. We will place ourselves under the protection of
+the Moorish bashaw. I always intended that."</p>
+
+<p>"Not seriously?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, yes; I have already consulted our Minister. Sir Arthur is an
+old friend of mine, and he has advised me, privately, of course, and
+unofficially, to be on our guard. He can do nothing for us, but he
+will not act against us. If Lord Blackadder should turn up here, and
+sooner or later he will, most assuredly he will not assist him. He
+promises that. At the same time he can give you no protection. We must
+take care of ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"You believe that Lord Blackadder will find his way to Tangier?"</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly. He has Philpotts under his hand, but he would not
+trust only to her. Diligent inquiry at Marseilles would be sure to
+reveal our departure for Gibraltar. He will follow with his men, they
+are well-trained detectives, and it will be mere child's play for them
+to track us to Tangier. You may look for them here any day. We must be
+ready for them at all points."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no saying what Ralph Blackadder may not attempt."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, yes, he is equal to anything, guile of course, treachery,
+cunning, stratagem, absolute violence if the opportunity offers. It is
+of the utmost importance not to play into his hands, not to give him
+the smallest chance. The child must be watched continually in the
+house, awake and asleep, wherever he goes and whatever he does."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I think Henriette must be warned not to wander about the town
+and on the sands in the way she's been doing with Victorine and the
+child, all of them on donkey back. I don't think it's at all safe."</p>
+
+<p>But when I cautioned her she was not particularly pleased. Was she to
+have no fresh air, no change of scene? I grudged her the  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span> smallest
+pleasure, while I was racing up and down flirting and philandering
+with Basil Annesley all day and every day; she was to sit indoors,
+bored to extinction and suffering torments in the unbearable heat.</p>
+
+<p>Basil and I agreed that it was cruel to restrict her movements even
+with such a good excuse, and had she been willing to accept the
+irksome conditions, which she certainly was not. We arranged a
+surveillance, therefore, unknown to her. The Colonel, his man, or
+myself invariably accompanied her or followed her within eyeshot; and
+we hired two or three stalwart Moors, who were always to be near
+enough to render help if required.</p>
+
+<p>Then came confirmations of our worst fears. L'Echelle, who had been
+unaccountably absent one morning, returned about midday with news from
+the port. Lord Blackadder and his two henchmen had just landed from
+the <i>Jos&eacute; Pielago</i>, the steamer that runs regularly between Cadiz and
+Alge&ccedil;iras, Gibraltar, and Tangier. He had seen them in the
+custom-house, fighting their way through the crowd of ragged Jew
+porters, the Moorish egg merchants, and dealers in luscious fruit.
+They had mounted donkeys, the only means of conveyance in a town with
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> no wheeled vehicles; and l'Echelle made us laugh at the sorry picture
+presented by the indignant peer, with his legs dangling down on each
+side of the red leather saddle. Their baggage was also piled on
+donkeys, and the whole procession, familiar enough in the narrow
+streets of Tangier, climbed the hill to the Soko, and made for the
+Shereef Hotel, reputed one of the best in Tangier, and lying outside
+the walls in the immediate neighbourhood of the British Legation.</p>
+
+<p>L'Echelle, who seems an honest, loyal fellow, thought he would serve
+us best by marking them down, and, if possible, renewing his
+acquaintance with the detectives, one or both of whom he knew. After
+hanging about the outside of the hotel, he entered the garden boldly
+and went up to the shady trellised verandah where they were seated
+together, smoking and refreshing themselves after their journey.</p>
+
+<p>L'Echelle was well received. Falfani, my friend of the Calais train,
+believed he had suborned him at Aix, and now hailed his appearance
+with much satisfaction. L'Echelle might again be most useful; at
+least, he could lead them to us, and he wisely decided to let Falfani
+know where we were to be found in  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span> Tangier. The fact would surely be
+discovered without him. It was better, he thought, to appear frank,
+and, by instilling confidence, learn all there was to know of their
+plans and movements.</p>
+
+<p>My lord had gone to the Legation, Falfani told him at once,
+bombastically boasting that everything would yield before him. He had
+but to express his wishes, and there would be an end of the hunt. But
+my lord came back in a furious rage, and, regardless of l'Echelle's&mdash;a
+comparative stranger's&mdash;presence, burst forth into passionate
+complaint against the Minister. He would teach Sir Arthur to show
+proper respect to a peer of the realm; he would cable at once to the
+Foreign Office and insist on this second-rate diplomatist's recall.
+The upshot of it all was that his lordship's demand for help had been
+refused pointblank, and no doubt, after what the Colonel had heard, in
+rather abrupt, outspoken terms.</p>
+
+<p>All this and more l'Echelle brought back to us at the Atlas Hotel. He
+told us at length of the outrageous language Lord Blackadder had used,
+of his horrible threats, how he would leave no stone unturned to
+recover his son and heir; how he would bribe the bashaw, buy the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span> Moorish officials, a notoriously venal crew; how he would dog our
+footsteps everywhere, set traps for us, fall upon us unawares; and in
+the last extreme he would attack the hotel and forcibly carry off his
+property. As the fitting end of his violent declamation, Ralph
+Blackadder had left the hotel hurriedly, calling upon his creatures to
+follow him, bent, as it seemed, to perpetrate some mad act.</p>
+
+<p>I confess I shuddered at the thought of this reckless, unprincipled
+man loose about Tangier, vowing vengeance, and resolved to go to any
+lengths to secure it. My dear Basil strove hard to console me with
+brave words inspired by his sturdy, self-reliant spirit.</p>
+
+<p>But even he quailed at the sudden shock that fell upon us at the very
+same moment. Where was Henriette?</p>
+
+<p>After the first excitement, we desired to pass on the news brought by
+l'Echelle to her, and renew our entreaties for extreme caution in her
+comings and goings; and with much misgiving we learnt that she was not
+in the hotel. She had gone out with Victorine and Ralph as usual, but
+unattended by any of us. One Moor, Achmet El Mansur, was with her, we
+were told, but we did not trust him entirely. It had been  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span> l'Echelle's
+turn to accompany her, but he had been diverted from his duty by the
+pressing necessity of following Lord Blackadder. Basil and I had
+ridden out quite early on a long expedition, from which we only
+returned when l'Echelle did.</p>
+
+<p>We dismissed our fears, hoping they were groundless, and looking to be
+quite reassured presently when she came back at the luncheon hour.</p>
+
+<p>But one o'clock came, and two, and two-thirty, but not a sign of
+Henriette, nor a word in explanation of her absence.</p>
+
+<p>Could she have fallen a victim to the machinations of Lord Blackadder?
+Was the boy captured and she detained while he was spirited away?</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> </p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was impossible to disassociate Lord Blackadder from Lady
+Henriette's mysterious disappearance, and yet we could hardly believe
+that he could have so quickly accomplished his purpose. We doubted the
+more when the man turned up in person at the Atlas Hotel and had the
+effrontery to ask for her.</p>
+
+<p>Basil went out to him in the outer hall, and, as I listened from
+within, I immediately heard high words. It was like a spark applied to
+tinder; a fierce quarrel blazed up instantly between them.</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you show yourself here?" began Basil Annesley.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you to prevent me? I come to demand the restoration of that
+which belongs to me. Take my message to those two ladies and say I
+will have my boy," replied my lord.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not try to impose on me, Lord Blackadder. It is the most impudent
+pretence; you know perfectly well he is not here."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span> </p>
+
+<p>"I will not bandy words with you. Go in, you men, both of you, Tiler
+and Falfani, and seize the child. Force your way in, push that
+blackguard aside!" he roared in a perfect paroxysm of passion.</p>
+
+<p>I could not possibly hold aloof, but called for help from the hotel
+people, and, with them at my back, rushed out to add my protest
+against this intemperate conduct.</p>
+
+<p>A free fight had already begun. The three assailants, Ralph Blackadder
+behind egging them on, had thrown themselves upon Basil, who stood
+sturdily at bay with his back to the wall, daring them to come on, and
+prepared to strike out at the first man who touched him.</p>
+
+<p>"At him! Give it him! Throw him out!" cried Ralph passionately. But
+even as he spoke his voice weakened, he halted abruptly; his hands
+went up into the air, his body swayed to and fro, his strength left
+him completely, and he fell to the ground in sudden and complete
+collapse. When they picked him up, there was froth mixed with blood
+upon his lips, he breathed once or twice heavily, stertorously, and
+then with one long-drawn gasp died in the arms of his two men.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> </p>
+
+<p>It was an apoplectic seizure, the doctors told us later, brought on by
+excessive nervous irritation of the brain.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a sudden and unexpected <i>d&eacute;nouement</i>, a terribly dramatic end
+to our troubles if we could but clear up the horrible uncertainty
+remaining.</p>
+
+<p>What had become of my sister and little Ralph?</p>
+
+<p>While the servants of the hotel attended to the stricken man, Basil
+Annesley plied the detectives with eager questions. He urged them to
+tell all they knew; it should be made worth their while; they no
+longer owed allegiance to their late employer. He entreated them to
+withhold nothing. Where and how had Lord Blackadder met Henriette?
+What had he done with her? Where was she now?</p>
+
+<p>We could get nothing out of these men; they refused to answer our
+questions from sheer mulish obstinacy, as we thought at first, but we
+saw at length that they did not understand us. What were we driving
+at? They assured us they had seen no lady, nor had the unfortunate
+peer accosted any one, or interfered with any one on his way between
+the two hotels. He had come straight from the Villa Shereef to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span> the
+Hotel Atlas, racing down at a run, pausing nowhere, addressing no one
+on the road.</p>
+
+<p>If not Lord Blackadder, what then? What could have happened to
+Henriette? Tangier was a wild place enough, but who would interfere
+with an English woman in broad daylight accompanied by her servant, by
+an escort, her attendant Moorish guide? Full of anxiety, Basil called
+for a horse, and was about to ride off to institute a hue and cry,
+when my sister appeared in person upon the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Getting anxious about me?" she asked, with careless, almost childish
+gaiety. "I am awfully late, but I have had such an extraordinary
+adventure. Why, how serious you look! Not on my account, surely?"</p>
+
+<p>I took her aside, and in a few words told her of the terrible
+catastrophe that had just occurred, and for a time she was silent and
+seemed quite overcome.</p>
+
+<p>"It's too shocking, of course, to happen in this awful way. But
+really, I cannot be very sorry except for one thing&mdash;that now he will
+never know."</p>
+
+<p>"Know what, Henriette? Have you taken leave of your senses?"</p>
+
+<p>"Know that I have discovered the whole  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span> plot of which I was the
+victim. My dear, I have found Susan Bruel, and she has made a full
+confession. They were bribed to go away, and they have been here
+hiding in Tangier."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, go on. Tell me, please, all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"You must know we went out, the three of us, on our donkeys, and the
+fancy seized me to explore some of the dark, narrow streets where the
+houses all but join overhead. I got quite frightened at last. I was
+nearly suffocated for want of air. I could not even see the sky, and
+at last desired Achmet to get me out into the open, anywhere. After
+one or two sharp turns, we emerged upon a sort of plateau or terrace
+high above the sea, and in full view of it.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a small hotel in front of it, and above the door was the
+name of the proprietor, would you believe it, Domenico Bruel!</p>
+
+<p>"It was the name of Susan's husband, and no doubt Susan was there. I
+could not quite make up my mind how I should act. I thought of sending
+Achmet back for you or the Colonel, but I could not bear parting with
+him. Then, while I was still hesitating, Susan herself came out and
+rushed across to where I was, with her  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a>[289]</span> hands outstretched and fairly
+beside herself, laughing and crying by turns.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, my lady! It <i>is</i> you, then? What shall I say to you? How can I
+tell you?' she began, quite hysterically. 'We behaved most
+disgracefully, most wickedly, but indeed it was Domenico's doing. He
+insisted they offered us such a large sum, enough to make us rich for
+life, and so we consented to come away here. I have never had one
+happy moment since. Can you forgive me?'</p>
+
+<p>"All this she poured forth, and much more of the same sort. I could
+see she was truly sorry, and that it had not been entirely her fault.
+Besides, I began to hope already that, how we had found her, we might
+get the case reopened, and that wicked order reversed. It will be put
+right now, now that Ralph can no longer oppose it."</p>
+
+<p>I bowed my head silently, thankful and deeply impressed with the
+strange turn taken by events and the sudden light let in upon the
+darkness that had surrounded us.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the adventures that began in the sleeping-car between
+Calais and Basle, and came abruptly to an end on the North African
+shore, may soon be told. Our first act was to  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a>[290]</span> return to England at
+the very earliest opportunity, and we embarked that evening on a
+Forwood steamer direct for London, which port we reached in less than
+five days.</p>
+
+<p>Town was empty, and we did not linger there. Nothing could be done in
+the Courts, as it was the legal vacation, but Henriette's solicitors
+arranged to send out a commission to take the Bruels' evidence at
+Tangier, and to bring the matter before The President at the earliest
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>As for ourselves, I persuaded Henriette to take a cottage at Marlow on
+the Upper Thames, where Colonel Annesley was a constant guest, and
+Charlie Forrester. We four passed many idle halcyon days on the quiet
+river, far from the noise of trains, and content to leave Bradshaw in
+the bottom of the travelling-bag, where it had been thrown at the end
+of our feverish wanderings.</p>
+
+<p>Once again we had recourse to it, however, when we started on our
+honeymoon, Basil and I. Once more we found ourselves at Calais with
+Philpotts, but no encumbrances, bound on a second, a far happier, and
+much less eventful journey by the Engadine express.</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>[1]</span> </p>
+
+<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
+<hr style='width: 50%;' />
+<h3>L.C. Page &amp; Company's<br />
+  Announcement List<br />
+  of New Fiction<br />
+</h3>
+<hr style='width: 50%;' />
+<p><b>Haunters of the Silences</b>, <span class="smcap">By Charles G.D. Roberts</span>, author
+of "Red Fox," "The Watchers of the Trails," etc.</p>
+
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+  four
+of which are in full color <span class="adv">$2.00</span></p>
+
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+
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+books, whose lives are spent "In the Silences," where they are the
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+
+
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+
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+<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>[2]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Lady of the Blue Motor.</b> By <span class="smcap">G. Sidney Paternoster</span>,
+author of "The Cruise of the Motor-Boat Conqueror," "The Motor
+Pirate," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece by John C. Frohn <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
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+
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+
+
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+of "The Flight of Georgiana," "An Enemy to the King," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stephens has put into his new book, "Clementina's Highwayman," the
+finest qualities of plot, construction, and literary finish.</p>
+
+<p>The story is laid in the mid-Georgian period. It is a dashing,
+sparkling, vivacious comedy, with a heroine as lovely and changeable
+as an April day, and a hero all ardor and daring.</p>
+
+<p>The exquisite quality of Mr. Stephens's literary style clothes the
+story in a rich but delicate word-fabric; and never before have his
+setting and atmosphere been so perfect.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>[3]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Sorceress of Rome.</b> By <span class="smcap">Nathan Gallizier</span>, author of
+"Castel del Monte," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>The love-story of Otto III., the boy emperor, and Stephania, wife of
+the Senator Crescentius of Rome, has already been made the basis of
+various German poems and plays.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gallizier has used it for the main theme of "The Sorceress of
+Rome," the second book of his trilogy of romances on the medi&aelig;val life
+of Italy. In detail and finish the book is a brilliant piece of work,
+describing clearly an exciting and strenuous period. It possesses the
+same qualities as "Castel del Monte," of which the <i>Chicago Record
+Herald</i> said: "There is color, there is sumptuous word-painting in
+these pages; the action is terrific at times; vividness and life are
+in every part; brilliant descriptions entertain the reader; mystic
+scenes and prophecies give a singular fascination to the tale, which
+is strong and forceful in its portrayal."</p>
+
+
+<p><b>Hester of the Hills.</b> By <span class="smcap">Grover Clay</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Hester of the Hills" has a motif unusual in life, and new in fiction.
+Its hero, who has only acquired his own strength and resourcefulness
+by a lifelong struggle against constitutional frailty, has come to
+make the question of bodily soundness his dominant thought. He
+resolves to ensure strong constitutions to his children by marrying a
+physically perfect woman. After long search, he finds this ideal in
+Hester, the daughter of a "cracker squatter," of the Ozark Mountains
+of Missouri. But,&mdash;he forgot to take into consideration that very
+vital emotion, love, which played havoc with his well-laid plans.</p>
+
+<p>It is an ingenious combination of practical realism and imaginative
+fiction worked out to a thoroughly delightful and satisfying climax.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a>[4]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>Prisoners of Fortune.</b> <span class="smcap">A Tale of the Massachusetts Bay
+Colony.</span> <span class="smcap">By Ruel Perley Smith</span>, author of "The Rival
+Campers," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill
+<span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>The period of Mr. Smith's story is the beginning of the eighteenth
+century, when the shores of the American colonies were harassed and
+the seas patrolled by pirates and buccaneers. These robbed and
+spoiled, and often seized and put to death, the sailors and fishers
+and other humbler folk, while their leaders claimed friendship alike
+with Southern planters and New England merchants,&mdash;with whom it is
+said they frequently divided their spoils.</p>
+
+<p>The times were stern and the colonists were hardy, but they loved as
+truly and tenderly as in more peaceful days. Thus, while the hero's
+adventures with pirates and his search for their hidden treasure is a
+record of desperate encounters and daring deeds, his love-story and
+his winning of sweet Mary Vane is in delightful contrast.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Rome Express.</b> <span class="smcap">By Major Arthur Griffiths</span>, author of "The
+Passenger from Calais," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece by A.O. Scott <span class="adv">$1.25</span></p>
+
+<p>A mysterious murder on a flying express train, a wily Italian, a
+charming woman caught in the meshes of circumstantial evidence, a
+chivalrous Englishman, and a police force with a keen nose for the
+wrong clue, are the ingredients from which Major Griffiths has
+concocted a clever, up-to-date detective story. The book is bright and
+spirited, with rapid action, and consistent development which brings
+the story to a logical and dramatic ending.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>[5]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Morning Glory Club.</b> <span class="smcap">By George A. Kyle.</span></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece by A.O. Scott <span class="adv">$1.25</span></p>
+
+<p>The doings of the Morning Glory Club will furnish genuine amusement to
+the reader. Originally formed to "elevate" the village, it quickly
+develops into an exchange for town gossip. It has a saving grace,
+however, in the person of motherly Mrs. Stout, the uncultured but
+sweet-natured and pure-minded village philosopher, who pours the oil
+of her saneness and charity on the troubled waters of discussion and
+condemnation.</p>
+
+<p>It is a series of clear and interesting pictures of the humor of
+village life.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt, Detective.</b> <span class="smcap">New Illustrated
+Edition.</span> <span class="smcap">By Arthur Morrison</span>, author of "The Green
+Diamond," "The Red Triangle," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with six full-page drawings by W. Kirkpatrick <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>The success of Mr. Morrison's recent books, "The Green Diamond" and
+"The Red Triangle," has led to an imperative demand for the reissue of
+"The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt," which has been out of print for a
+number of years.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that Martin Hewitt is the detective in "The Red
+Triangle," of whom the <i>New York Tribune</i> said: "Better than Sherlock
+Holmes." His adventures in the London slums were of such a nature that
+the <i>Philadelphia North American</i> said: "The reader who has a grain of
+fancy or imagination may be defied to lay this book down once he has
+begun it until the last word is reached."</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>[6]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>Mystery Island.</b> By <span class="smcap">Edward H. Hurst.</span></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>A hunting camp on a swampy island in the Florida Everglades furnishes
+the background for this present-day tale.</p>
+
+<p>By the murder of one of their number, the secret of egress from the
+island is lost, and the campers find themselves marooned.</p>
+
+<p>Cut off from civilization, conventional veneer soon wears away. Love,
+hate, and revenge spring up, and after the sterner passions have had
+their sway the man and the woman are left alone to fulfil their own
+destiny.</p>
+
+<p>While there is much that is unusual in the plot and its development,
+Mr. Hurst has handled his subject with fine delicacy, and the tale of
+their love on the beautiful little island is told with deep sympathy
+and feeling.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Flying Cloud.</b> By <span class="smcap">Morley Roberts</span>, author of "The
+Promotion of the Admiral," "Rachel Marr," "The Idlers," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Roberts's new book is much more than a ripping good sea story such
+as might be expected from the author of "The Promotion of the
+Admiral." In "The Flying Cloud" the waters and the winds are gods
+personified. Their every mood and phase are described in words of
+telling force. There is no world but the waste of waters.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Roberts glories and exults in the mystery, the passion, the
+strength of the elements, as did the Viking chroniclers of old. He
+understands them and loves them and interprets them as no other writer
+has heretofore done. The book is too big for conventional phrases. It
+needs Mr. Roberts's own richness of imagery and masterly expression to
+describe adequately the word-pictures in this epic of wind and waves.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a>[1]</span> </p>
+
+
+
+<hr style='width: 50%;' />
+
+<h3>Selections from<br />
+L.C. Page and Company's<br />
+List of Fiction<br /></h3>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 50%;' />
+
+<h3>WORKS OF<br />
+ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><i>Each one vol., library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Flight of Georgiana</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Romance of the Days of the Young Pretender.</span> Illustrated by
+H.C. Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>"A love-story in the highest degree, a dashing story, and a remarkably
+well finished piece of work."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Bright Face of Danger</b></p>
+
+<p>Being an account of some adventures of Henri de Launay, son of the
+Sieur de la Tournoire. Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Stephens has fairly outdone himself. We thank him heartily. The
+story is nothing if not spirited and entertaining, rational and
+convincing."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Mystery of Murray Davenport</b></p>
+
+<p>(40<sup>th</sup> thousand.)</p>
+
+<p>"This is easily the best thing that Mr. Stephens has yet done. Those
+familiar with his other novels can best judge the measure of this
+praise, which is generous."&mdash;<i>Buffalo News.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Captain Ravenshaw</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Or, The Maid of Cheapside.</span> (52<sup>d</sup> thousand.) A romance of
+Elizabethan London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and other artists.</p>
+
+<p>Not since the absorbing adventures of D'Artagnan have we had anything
+so good in the blended vein of romance and comedy.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Continental Dragoon</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Romance of Philipse Manor House in 1778.</span> (53<sup>d</sup> thousand.)
+Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>A stirring romance of the Revolution, with its scene laid on neutral
+territory.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a>[2]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>Philip Winwood</b></p>
+
+<p>(70<sup>th</sup> thousand.) A Sketch of the Domestic History of an American
+Captain in the War of Independence, embracing events that occurred
+between and during the years 1763 and 1785 in New York and London.
+Illustrated by E.W.D. Hamilton.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>An Enemy to the King</b></p>
+
+<p>(70<sup>th</sup> thousand.) From the "Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de
+la Tournoire." Illustrated by H. De M. Young.</p>
+
+<p>An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing the
+adventures of a young French nobleman at the court of Henry III., and
+on the field with Henry IV.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Road to Paris</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Story of Adventure.</span> (35<sup>th</sup> thousand.) Illustrated by H.C.
+Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>An historical romance of the eighteenth century, being an account of
+the life of an American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite ancestry.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>A Gentleman Player</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">His Adventures on a Secret Mission for Queen Elizabeth.</span> (48<sup>th</sup>
+thousand.) Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.</p>
+
+<p>The story of a young gentleman who joins Shakespeare's company of
+players, and becomes a friend and prot&eacute;g&eacute; of the great poet.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3>WORKS OF<br />
+CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>Red Fox</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Story of His Adventurous Career in the Ringwaak Wilds, and of
+His Final Triumph over the Enemies of His Kind.</span> With fifty
+illustrations, including frontispiece in color and cover design by
+Charles Livingston Bull.</p>
+
+<p>Square quarto, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$2.00</span></p>
+
+<p>"Infinitely more wholesome reading than the average tale of sport,
+since it gives a glimpse of the hunt from the point of view of the
+hunted."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<p>"True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will interest old
+and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know animals and
+those who do not."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A brilliant chapter in natural history."&mdash;<i>Philadelphia North
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>[3]</span> American.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Kindred of the Wild</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Book of Animal Life</span>. With fifty-one full-page plates and
+many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull. </p>
+<p>Square
+  quarto, decorative cover <span class="adv">$2.00</span></p>
+<p>"Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal stories that
+has appeared; well named and well done."&mdash;<i>John Burroughs.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Watchers of the Trails</b></p>
+
+<p>A companion volume to "The Kindred of the Wild." With forty-eight
+full-page plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles
+Livingston Bull. </p>
+<p>Square quarto, decorative cover <span class="adv">$2.00</span></p>
+<p>"These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust in
+their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. Among
+the many writers about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable
+place.&mdash;<i>The Outlook</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a book full of delight. An additional charm lies in Mr.
+Bull's faithful and graphic illustrations, which in fashion all their
+own tell the story of the wild life, illuminating and supplementing
+the pen pictures of the author."&mdash;<i>Literary Digest.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Heart That Knows</b></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover<span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"A novel of singularly effective strength, luminous in literary color,
+rich in its passionate, yet tender drama."&mdash;<i>New York Globe.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Earth's Enigmas</b></p>
+
+<p>A new edition of Mr. Roberts's first volume of fiction, published in
+1892, and out of print for several years, with the addition of three
+new stories, and ten illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull. </p>
+<p>Library
+  12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+<p>"It will rank high among collections of short stories. In 'Earth's
+Enigmas' is a wider range of subject than in the 'Kindred of the
+Wild.'"&mdash;<i>Review from advance sheets of the illustrated edition by
+Tiffany Blake in the Chicago Evening Post.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Barbara Ladd</b></p>
+
+<p>With four illustrations by Frank Verbeck.<br />
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"From the opening chapter to the final page Mr. Roberts lures us on by
+his rapt devotion to the changing aspects of Nature and by his keen
+and sympathetic analysis of human character."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a>[4]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>Cameron of Lochiel</b></p>
+
+<p>Translated from the French of Philippe Aubert de Gasp&eacute;, with
+frontispiece in color by H.C. Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Professor Roberts deserves the thanks of his reader for giving a
+wider audience an opportunity to enjoy this striking bit of French
+Canadian literature."&mdash;<i>Brooklyn Eagle.</i></p>
+
+<p>"It is not often in these days of sensational and philosophical novels
+that one picks up a book that so touches the heart."&mdash;<i>Boston
+Transcript.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Prisoner of Mademoiselle</b></p>
+
+<p>With frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, gilt top <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>A tale of Acadia,&mdash;a land which is the author's heart's delight,&mdash;of a
+valiant young lieutenant and a winsome maiden, who first captures and
+then captivates.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the kind of a story that makes one grow younger, more
+innocent, more light-hearted. Its literary quality is impeccable. It
+is not every day that such a heroine blossoms into even temporary
+existence, and the very name of the story bears a breath of
+charm."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Heart of the Ancient Wood</b></p>
+
+<p>With six illustrations by James L. Weston.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"One of the most fascinating novels of recent days."&mdash;<i>Boston
+Journal.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A classic twentieth-century romance."&mdash;<i>New York Commercial
+Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Forge in the Forest</b></p>
+
+<p>Being the Narrative of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, Seigneur de
+Briart, and how he crossed the Black Abb&eacute;, and of his adventures in a
+strange fellowship. Illustrated by Henry Sandham, R.C.A.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>A story of pure love and heroic adventure.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>By the Marshes of Minas</b></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>Most of these romances are in the author's lighter and more playful
+vein; each is a unit of absorbing interest and exquisite workmanship.</p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a>[5]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>A Sister to Evangeline</b></p>
+
+<p>Being the Story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into exile
+with the villagers of Grand Pr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep passion, and
+searching analysis characterize this strong novel.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>LILIAN BELL<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>Carolina Lee</b></p>
+
+<p>With a frontispiece in color from an oil painting by Dora Wheeler
+Keith.</p>
+<p> Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+<p>"A Christian Science novel, full of action, alive with incident and
+brisk with pithy dialogue and humor."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing
+as a breeze that blows through a pine forest."&mdash;<i>Albany Times-Union.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Hope Loring</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Tall, slender, and athletic, fragile-looking, yet with nerves and
+sinews of steel under the velvet flesh, frank as a boy and tender and
+beautiful as a woman, free and independent, yet not bold&mdash;such is
+'Hope Loring,' by long odds the subtlest study that has yet been made
+of the American girl."&mdash;<i>Dorothy Dix, in the New York American.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Abroad with the Jimmies</b></p>
+
+<p>With a portrait, in duogravure, of the author.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Full of ozone, of snap, of ginger, of swing and momentum."&mdash;<i>Chicago
+Evening Post.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>At Home with the Jardines</b></p>
+
+<p>A companion volume to "Abroad with the Jimmies."</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Bits of gay humor, sunny, whimsical philosophy, and keen indubitable
+insight into the less evident aspects and workings of pure human
+nature, with a slender thread of a cleverly extraneous love story,
+keep the interest of the reader fresh."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a>[6]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Interference of Patricia</b></p>
+
+<p>With a frontispiece from drawing by Frank T. Merrill.</p>
+
+<p>Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.25</span></p>
+
+<p>"There is life and action and brilliancy and dash and cleverness and a
+keen appreciation of business ways in this story."&mdash;<i>Grand Rapids
+Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"A story full of keen and flashing satire."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>A Book of Girls</b></p>
+
+<p>With a frontispiece.</p>
+
+<p>Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.25</span></p>
+
+<p>"The stories are all eventful and have effective humor."&mdash;<i>New York
+Sun.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Lilian Bell surely understands girls, for she depicts all the
+variations of girl nature so charmingly."&mdash;<i>Chicago Journal.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The above two volumes boxed in special holiday dress, per set, <span class="adv">$2.50</span></i></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>ALICE MacGOWAN AND GRACE MacGOWAN COOKE<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>Return</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Story of the Sea Islands in 1739.</span> With six illustrations by
+C.D. Williams.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"So rich in color is this story, so crowded with figures, it seems
+like a bit of old Italian wall painting, a piece of modern tapestry,
+rather than a modern fabric woven deftly from the threads of fact and
+fancy gathered up in this new and essentially practical country, and
+therein lies its distinctive value and excellence."&mdash;<i>N.Y. Sun.</i></p>
+
+<p>"At once tender, thrilling, picturesque, philosophical, and dramatic.
+One of the most delightful romances we have had in many a
+day."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Grapple</b></p>
+
+<p>With frontispiece in color by Arthur W. Brown.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"The movement of the tale is swift and dramatic. The story is so
+original, so strong, and so finely told that it deserves a large and
+thoughtful public. It is a book to read with both enjoyment and
+enlightenment."&mdash;<i>N.Y. Times Saturday Review of Books.</i></p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>[7]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Last Word</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated with seven portraits of the heroine.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"When one receives full measure to overflowing of delight in a tender,
+charming, and wholly fascinating new piece of fiction, the enthusiasm
+is apt to come uppermost."&mdash;<i>Louisville Post.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Huldah</b></p>
+
+<p>With illustrations by Fanny Y. Cory.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>Here we have the great-hearted, capable woman of the Texas plains
+dispensing food and genial philosophy to rough-and-ready cowboys. Her
+sympathy takes the form of happy laughter, and her delightfully funny
+phrases amuse the fancy and stick in one's memory.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>MORLEY ROBERTS<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>Rachel Marr</b></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"A novel of tremendous force, with a style that is sure, luxuriant,
+compelling, full of color and vital force."&mdash;<i>Elia W. Peattie, in
+Chicago Tribune</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"In atmosphere, if nothing else, the story is absolutely
+perfect."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Lady Penelope</b></p>
+
+<p>With nine illustrations by Arthur W. Brown.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"A fresh and original bit of comedy as amusing as it is
+audacious."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Idlers</b></p>
+
+<p>With frontispiece in color by John C. Frohn.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"In 'The Idlers' Mr. Morley Roberts does for the smart set of London
+what Mrs. Wharton has done in 'The House of Mirth' for the American
+social class of the same name.... It is a powerful novel, a merciless
+dissection of modern society similar to that which a skilled surgeon
+would make of a pathological case."&mdash;<i>The London Literary World.</i></p>
+
+<p>"It is as absorbing as the devil. Mr. Roberts gives us the antithesis
+of 'Rachel Marr' in an equally masterful and convincing work."&mdash;<i>The
+New York Sun.</i></p>
+
+<p>"It is a work of great ethical force."&mdash;<i>Professor Charles G.D.
+Roberts.</i></p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a>[8]</span> </p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Promotion of the Admiral</b></p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Morley Roberts</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"If any one writes better sea stories than Mr. Roberts, we don't know
+who it is; and if there is a better sea story of its kind than this it
+would be a joy to have the pleasure of reading it."&mdash;<i>New York Sun.</i></p>
+
+<p>"There is a hearty laugh in everyone of these stories."&mdash;<i>The
+Reader.</i></p>
+
+<p>"To read these stories is a tonic for the mind; the stories are gems,
+and for pith and vigor of description they are unequalled."&mdash;<i>N.Y.
+Commercial Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>STEPHEN CONRAD<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>The Second Mrs. Jim</b></p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Stephen Conrad</span>. With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery.</p>
+
+<p>Large 16mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.00</span></p>
+
+<p>Here is a character as original and witty as "Mr. Dooley" or "the
+self-made merchant." The realm of humorous fiction is now invaded by
+the stepmother.</p>
+
+<p>"It is an exceptionally clever piece of work."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<p>"'The Second Mrs. Jim' is worth as many Mrs. Wiggses as could be
+crowded into the Cabbage Patch. The racy humor and cheerfulness and
+wisdom of the book make it wholly delightful."&mdash;<i>Philadelphia Press.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Mrs. Jim and Mrs. Jimmie</b></p>
+
+<p>With a frontispiece in colors by Arthur W. Brown.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>This book is in a sense a sequel to "The Second Mrs. Jim," since it
+gives further glimpses of that delightful stepmother and her
+philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty of fun and humor in this book. Plenty of simple pathos and
+quietly keen depiction of human nature afford contrast, and every
+chapter is worth reading. It is a very human account of life in a
+small country town, and the work should be commended for those
+sterling qualities of heart and naturalness so endearing to
+many."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a>[9]</span> </p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>ARTHUR MORRISON<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>The Green Diamond</b></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with six illustrations <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"A detective story of unusual ingenuity and intrigue."&mdash;<i>Brooklyn
+Eagle.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Red Triangle</b></p>
+
+<p>Being some further chronicles of Martin Hewitt, investigator.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Better than Sherlock Holmes."&mdash;<i>New York Tribune.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The reader who has a grain of fancy or imagination may be defied to
+lay this book down, once he has begun it, until the last word has been
+reached."&mdash;<i>Philadelphia North American.</i></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>G. SIDNEY PATERNOSTER<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>The Motor Pirate</b></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with frontispiece <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"Its originality, exciting adventures, into which is woven a charming
+love theme, and its undercurrent of fun furnish a dashing detective
+story which a motor-mad world will thoroughly enjoy reading."&mdash;<i>Boston
+Herald.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Cruise of the Motor-Boat Conqueror</b></p>
+
+<p>Being the Further Adventures of the Motor Pirate.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece by Frank T.
+Merrill <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"As a land pirate Mannering was a marvel of resource, but as a
+sea-going buccaneer he is almost a miracle of devilish ingenuity. His
+exploits are wonderful and plausible, for he avails himself of every
+modern device and applies recent inventions to the accomplishment of
+all his pet schemes."&mdash;<i>Chicago Evening Post.</i></p><p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a>[10]</span> </p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>T. JENKINS HAINS<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>The Black Barque</b></p>
+
+<p>With five illustrations by W. Herbert Dunton.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>According to a high naval authority, whose name must be withheld, this
+is one of the best sea stories ever offered to the public. "The Black
+Barque" is a story of slavery and piracy upon the high seas about
+1815, and is written with a thorough knowledge of deep-water sailing.</p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Windjammers</b></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+
+<p>"A collection of short sea stories unmatched for interest."&mdash;<i>New York
+Sun.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Voyage of the Arrow</b></p>
+
+<p>With six illustrations by H.C. Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth <span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>"A capital story, full of sensation and excitement, and a rollicking
+sea story of the good old-fashioned sort. The reader who begins this
+exciting voyage will sail on at the rate of twelve knots an hour until
+it is finished."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+
+
+
+<h4>WORKS OF</h4>
+<h3>REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN<br /></h3>
+
+
+
+<p><b>Miss Frances Baird, Detective</b></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Passage from Her Memoirs.</span></p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece by W.F.
+Kirkpatrick <span class="adv">$1.25</span></p>
+
+<p>"Miss Baird ravels and unravels circumstantial evidence in her search
+for the murderer in a most bewildering and thoroughly feminine
+fashion.... The story is brimful of excitement, and no little
+ingenuity is displayed in its construction."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><b>Jarvis of Harvard</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by Robert Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative
+<span class="adv">$1.50</span></p>
+
+<p>A strong and well written novel, dealing with the life of a young man
+in a modern college. Studies, athletics, social life, and the outside
+influences surrounding the youth of a college town are clearly
+depicted.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Kauffman's treatment of his subject is dignified, restrained,
+sincere, and in admirable good taste throughout."&mdash;<i>New York Mail and
+Express.</i></p>
+<hr style='width: 100%;' />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Passenger from Calais, by Arthur Griffiths
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSENGER FROM CALAIS ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Passenger from Calais, by Arthur Griffiths
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Passenger from Calais
+
+Author: Arthur Griffiths
+
+Release Date: July 21, 2005 [EBook #16339]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSENGER FROM CALAIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               Works of
+                           ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
+
+          *       *       *       *       *
+
+                   The Passenger from Calais $1.25
+                   The Rome Express           1.25
+
+          *       *       *       *       *
+
+                          L.C. PAGE & COMPANY
+                  New England Building, Boston, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             The Passenger
+                              from Calais
+
+
+                          By Arthur Griffiths
+
+                  Author of "The Rome Express," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+                         Boston--L.C. Page and
+                          Company--Publishers
+
+
+                   _First Impression, January, 1906
+                    Second Impression, February, 1906
+                    Third Impression, February, 1906
+                    Fourth Impression, March, 1908_
+
+                            Colonial Press
+                         _C.H. Simonds & Co.
+                            Boston, U.S.A._
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+_I desire to state that the initial
+fact upon which I have founded
+this story is within my own experience.
+I travelled from Calais to
+Basle by the Engadine Express in
+the latter end of July, 1902, when
+my wife and myself were the only
+passengers. The rest is pure fiction._
+
+A.G.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+[_Colonel Annesley's Story_]
+
+
+The crossing from Dover to Calais had been rough; a drizzling rain
+fell all the time, and most of the passengers had remained below.
+Strange to say, they were few enough, as I saw on landing. It was a
+Sunday in late July, and there ought to have been a strong stream
+setting towards Central Europe. I hardly expected to find much room in
+the train; not that it mattered, for my place was booked through in
+the Lucerne sleeping-car of the Engadine express.
+
+Room! When I reached the siding where this train de luxe was drawn up,
+I saw that I was not merely the first but the only passenger. Five
+sleeping-cars and a dining-car attached, with the full staff,
+attendants, chef, waiters--all lay there waiting for me, and me
+alone.
+
+"Not very busy?" I said, with a laugh to the conductor.
+
+"_Parbleu_," replied the man, polyglot and cosmopolitan, like most of
+his class, but a Frenchman, or, more likely from his accent, a Swiss.
+"I never saw the like before."
+
+"I shall have a compartment to myself, then?"
+
+"Monsieur may have the whole carriage if he wishes--the whole five
+carriages. It is but to arrange." His eyes glistened at the prospect
+of something special in this obvious scarcity of coming tips.
+
+"The train will run, I hope? I am anxious to get on."
+
+"But assuredly it will run. Even without monsieur it would run. The
+carriages are wanted at the other end for the return journey. Stay,
+what have we here?"
+
+We stood talking together on the platform, and at some little distance
+from the railway station, the road to which was clear and open all the
+way, so that I could see a little party of four approaching us, and
+distinguish them. Two ladies, an official, probably one of the guards,
+and a porter laden with light luggage.
+
+As they came up I discreetly withdrew to my own compartment, the
+window of which was open, so that I could hear and see all that
+passed.
+
+"Can we have places for Lucerne?" It was asked in an eager, anxious,
+but very sweet voice, and in excellent French.
+
+"Places?" echoed the conductor. "Madame can have fifty."
+
+"What did I tell madame?" put in the official who had escorted her.
+
+"I don't want fifty," she replied, pettishly, crossly, "only two. A
+separate compartment for myself and maid; the child can come in with
+us."
+
+Now for the first time I noticed that the maid was carrying a bundle
+in her arms, the nature of which was unmistakable. The way in which
+she swung it to and fro rhythmically was that of a nurse and child.
+
+"If madame prefers, the maid and infant can be accommodated apart,"
+suggested the obliging conductor.
+
+But this did not please her. "No, no, no," she answered with much
+asperity. "I wish them to be with me. I have told you so already; did
+you not hear?"
+
+"_Parfaitement_, as madame pleases. Only, as the train is not
+full--very much the reverse indeed--only one other passenger, a
+gentleman--no more--"
+
+The news affected her strangely, and in two very different ways. At
+first a look of satisfaction came into her face, but it was quickly
+succeeded by one of nervous apprehension, amounting to positive fear.
+She turned to talk to her maid in English, while the conductor busied
+himself in preparing the tickets.
+
+"What are we to do, Philpotts?" This was said to the maid in English.
+"What if it should be--"
+
+"Oh, no, never! We can't turn back. You must face it out now. There is
+nothing to be afraid of, not in that way. I saw him, the gentleman, as
+we came up. He's quite a gentleman, a good-looking military-looking
+man, not at all the other sort--you know the sort I mean."
+
+Now while I accepted the compliment to myself, I was greatly mystified
+by the allusion to the "other sort of man."
+
+"You think we can go on, that it's safe, even in this empty train? It
+would have been so different in a crowd. We should have passed
+unobserved among a lot of people."
+
+"But then there would have been a lot of people to observe us; some
+one, perhaps, who knew you, some one who might send word."
+
+"I wish I knew who this passenger is. It would make me much easier in
+my mind. It might be possible perhaps to get him on our side if he is
+to go with us, at least to get him to help to take care of our
+treasure until I can hand it over. What a burden it is! It's terribly
+on my mind. I wonder how I could have done it. The mere thought makes
+me shiver. To turn thief! Me, a common thief!"
+
+"Stealing is common enough, and it don't matter greatly, so long as
+you're not found out. And you did it so cleverly too; with such a
+nerve. Not a soul could have equalled you at the business. You might
+have been at it all your life," said the maid, with affectionate
+familiarity, that of a humble performer paying tribute to a great
+artist in crime.
+
+She was a decent, respectable-looking body too, this confederate whom
+I concluded was masquerading as maid. The very opposite of the younger
+woman (about her more directly), a neatly dressed unassuming person,
+short and squat in figure, with a broad, plain, and, to the casual
+observer, honest face, slow in movement and of no doubt sluggish
+temperament, not likely to be moved or distressed by conscience,
+neither at the doing or the memory of evil deeds.
+
+Now the conductor came up and civilly bowed them towards their
+carriage, mine, which they entered at the other end as I left it
+making for the restaurant, not a little interested in what I had
+heard.
+
+Who and what could these two people be with whom I was so strangely
+and unexpectedly thrown? The one was a lady, I could hardly be
+mistaken in that; it was proved in many ways, voice, air, aspect, all
+spoke of birth and breeding, however much she might have fallen away
+from or forfeited her high station.
+
+She might have taken to devious practices, or been forced into them;
+whatever the cause of her present decadence she could not have been
+always the thief she now confessed herself. I had it from her own
+lips, she had acknowledged it with some show of remorse. There must
+surely have been some excuse for her, some overmastering temptation,
+some extreme pressure exercised irresistibly through her emotions, her
+affections, her fears.
+
+What! this fair creature a thief? This beautiful woman, so richly
+endowed by nature, so outwardly worthy of admiration, a despicable
+degraded character within? It was hard to credit it. As I still
+hesitated, puzzled and bewildered, still anxious to give her the
+benefit of the doubt, she came to the door of the buffet where I was
+now seated at lunch, and allowed me to survey her more curiously and
+more at leisure.
+
+"A daughter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinely fair."
+
+The height and slimness of her graceful figure enhanced by the
+tight-fitting tailor-made ulster that fell straight from collar to
+heel; her head well poised, a little thrown back with chin in the air,
+and a proud defiant look in her undeniably handsome face. Fine eyes of
+darkest blue, a well-chiseled nose with delicate, sensitive nostrils,
+a small mouth with firm closely compressed lips, a wealth of glossy
+chestnut hair, gathered into a knot under her tweed travelling cap.
+
+As she faced me, looking straight at me, she conveyed the impression
+of a determined unyielding character, a woman who would do much, dare
+much, who would go her own road if so resolved, undismayed and
+undeterred by any difficulties that might beset her.
+
+Then, to my surprise, although I might have expected it, she came and
+seated herself at a table close to my elbow. She had told her
+companion that she wanted to know more about me, that she would like
+to enlist me in her service, questionable though it might be, and here
+she was evidently about to make the attempt. It was a little
+barefaced, but I admit that I was amused by it, and not at all
+unwilling to measure swords with her. She was presumably an
+adventuress, clever, designing, desirous of turning me round her
+finger, but she was also a pretty woman.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she began almost at once in English, when the
+waiter had brought her a plate of soup, and she was toying with the
+first spoonful, speaking in a low constrained, almost sullen voice, as
+though it cost her much to break through the _convenances_ in thus
+addressing a stranger.
+
+"You will think it strange of me," she went on, "but I am rather
+awkwardly situated, in fact in a position of difficulty, even of
+danger, and I venture to appeal to you as a countryman, an English
+officer."
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked, quickly concluding that my light
+baggage had been subjected to scrutiny, and wondering what subterfuge
+she would adopt to explain it.
+
+"It is easy to see that. Gentlemen of your cloth are as easily
+recognizable as if your names were printed on your back."
+
+"And as they are generally upon our travelling belongings." I looked
+at her steadily with a light laugh, and a crimson flush came on her
+face. However hardened a character, she had preserved the faculty of
+blushing readily and deeply, the natural adjunct of a cream-like
+complexion.
+
+"Let me introduce myself in full," I said, pitying her obvious
+confusion; and I handed her my card, which she took with a shamefaced
+air, rather foreign to her general demeanour.
+
+"Lieut.-Colonel Basil Annesley, Mars and Neptune Club," she read
+aloud. "What was your regiment?"
+
+"The Princess Ulrica Rifles, but I left it on promotion. I am
+unattached for the moment, and waiting for reemployment."
+
+"Your own master then?"
+
+"Practically, until I am called upon to serve. I hope to get a staff
+appointment. Meanwhile I am loafing about Europe."
+
+"Do you go beyond Lucerne?"
+
+"Across the St. Gothard certainly, and as far as Como, perhaps beyond.
+And you? Am I right in supposing we are to be fellow travellers by the
+Engadine express?" I went on by way of saying something. "To Lucerne
+or further?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+"Probably." The answer was given with great hesitation. "If I go by
+this train at all, that is to say."
+
+"Have you any doubts?"
+
+"Why, yes. To tell you the truth, I dread the journey. I have been
+doing so ever since--since I felt it must be made. Now I find it ever
+so much worse than I expected."
+
+"Why is that, if I may ask?"
+
+"You see, I am travelling alone, practically alone that is to say,
+with only my maid."
+
+"And your child," I added rather casually, with no second thought, and
+I was puzzled to understand why the chance phrase evoked another vivid
+blush.
+
+"The child! Oh, yes, the child," and I was struck that she did not say
+"my" child, but laid rather a marked stress on the definite article.
+
+"That of course increases your responsibility," I hazarded, and she
+seized the suggestion.
+
+"Quite so. You see how I am placed. The idea of going all that way in
+an empty train quite terrifies me."
+
+"I don't see why it should."
+
+"But just think. There will be no one in it, no one but ourselves. We
+two lone women and you, single-handed. Suppose the five attendants and
+the others were to combine against us? They might rob and murder us."
+
+"Oh, come, come. You must not let foolish fears get the better of your
+common sense. Why should they want to make us their victims? I believe
+they are decent, respectable men, the employes of a great company,
+carefully selected. At any rate, I am not worth robbing, are you? Have
+you any special reason for fearing thieves? Ladies are perhaps a
+little too reckless in carrying their valuables about with them. Your
+jewel-case may be exceptionally well lined."
+
+"Oh, but it is not; quite the contrary," she cried with almost
+hysterical alacrity. "I have nothing to tempt them. And yet something
+dreadful might happen; I feel we are quite at their mercy."
+
+"I don't. I tell you frankly that I think you are grossly exaggerating
+the situation. But if you feel like that, why not wait? Wait over for
+another train, I mean?"
+
+I am free to confess that, although my curiosity had been aroused, I
+would much rather have washed my hands of her, and left her and her
+belongings, especially the more compromising part, the mysterious
+treasure, behind at Calais.
+
+"Is there another train soon?" she inquired nervously.
+
+"Assuredly--by Boulogne. It connects with the train from Victoria at
+2.20 and the boat from Folkestone. You need only run as far as
+Boulogne with this Engadine train, and wait there till it starts. I
+think about 6 P.M."
+
+"Will that not lose time?"
+
+"Undoubtedly you will be two hours later at Basle, and you may lose
+the connection with Lucerne and the St. Gothard if you want to get on
+without delay. To Naples I think you said?"
+
+"I did not say Naples. You said you were going to Naples," she replied
+stiffly. "I did not mention my ultimate destination."
+
+"Perhaps not. I have dreamt it. But I do not presume to inquire where
+you are going, and I myself am certainly not bound for Naples. But if
+I can be of no further use to you I will make my bow. It is time for
+me to get back to the train, and for my part I don't in the least want
+to lose the Engadine express."
+
+She got up too, and walked out of the buffet by my side.
+
+"I shall go on, at any rate as far as Boulogne," she volunteered,
+without my asking the question; and we got into our car together, she
+entering her compartment and I mine. I heard her door bang, but I kept
+mine still open.
+
+I smoked many cigarettes pondering over the curious episode and my new
+acquaintance. How was I to class her? A young man would have sworn she
+was perfectly straight, that there could be no guile in this
+sweet-faced, gentle, well-mannered woman; and I, with my greater
+experience of life and the sex, was much tempted to do the same. It
+was against the grain to condemn her as all bad, a depredator, a woman
+with perverted moral sense who broke the law and did evil things.
+
+But what else could I conclude from the words I had heard drop from
+her own lips, strengthened and confirmed as they were by the
+incriminating language of her companion?
+
+"Bother the woman and her dark blue eyes. I wish I'd never come across
+her. A fine thing, truly, to fall in love with a thief. I hope to
+heaven she will really leave the train at Boulogne; we ought to be
+getting near there by now."
+
+I had travelled the road often enough to know it by heart, and I
+recognized our near approach only to realize that the train did not
+mean to stop. I turned over the leaves of Bradshaw and saw I had been
+mistaken; the train skirted Boulogne and never entered the station.
+
+"Well, that settles it for the present, anyhow. If she still wants to
+leave the train she must wait now until Amiens. That ought to suit her
+just as well."
+
+But it would not; at least, she lost no time in expressing her
+disappointment at not being able to alight at Boulogne.
+
+We had hardly passed the place when her maid's (or companion's) square
+figure filled the open doorway of my compartment, and in her strong
+deep voice she addressed a brief summons to me brusquely and
+peremptorily:
+
+"My lady wishes to speak to you."
+
+"And pray what does 'my lady' want with me?" I replied carelessly,
+using the expression as a title of rank.
+
+"She is not 'my lady,' but 'my' lady, my mistress, and simply Mrs.
+Blair." The correction and information were vouchsafed with cold
+self-possession. "Are you coming?"
+
+"I don't really see why I should," I said, not too civilly. "Why
+should I be at her beck and call? If she had been in any trouble, any
+serious trouble, such as she anticipated when talking to me at the
+buffet, and a prey to imaginary alarms since become real, I should
+have been ready to serve her or any woman in distress, but nothing of
+this could have happened in the short hour's run so far."
+
+"I thought you were a gentleman," was the scornful rejoinder. "A nice
+sort of gentleman, indeed, to sit there like a stock or a stone when a
+lady sends for you!"
+
+"A lady!" There was enough sarcasm in my tone to bring a flush upon
+her impassive face, a fierce gleam of anger in her stolid eyes; and
+when I added, "A fine sort of lady!" I thought she would have struck
+me. But she did no more than hiss an insolent gibe.
+
+"You call yourself an officer, a colonel? I call you a bounder, a
+common cad."
+
+"Be off!" I was goaded into crying, angrily. "Get away with you; I
+want to have nothing more to say to you or your mistress. I know what
+you are and what you have been doing, and I prefer to wash my hands of
+you both. You're not the kind of people I like to deal with or wish to
+know."
+
+She stared at me open-mouthed, her hands clenched, her eyes half out
+of her head. Her face had gone deadly white, and I thought she would
+have fallen there where she stood, a prey to impotent rage.
+
+Now came a sudden change of scene. The lady, Mrs. Blair, as I had just
+heard her called, appeared behind, her taller figure towering above
+the maid's, her face in full view, vexed with varying acute emotions,
+rage, grief, and terror combined.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+"What's all this?" she cried in great agitation. "Wait, do not speak,
+Philpotts, leave him to me.... Do you go back to our place this
+instant; we cannot be away together, you know that; _it_ must not be
+left alone, one of us must be on guard over it. Hurry, hurry, I never
+feel that _it_ is safe out of our sight.
+
+"Now, sir," Mrs. Blair turned on me fiercely, "will you be so good as
+to explain how I find you quarrelling with my maid, permitting
+yourself to cast aspersions, to make imputations upon two unprotected
+women?"
+
+"How much have you overheard?" I asked, feeling very small already. My
+self-reproach was aroused even before I quailed under the withering
+contempt of her tone.
+
+"Enough to expect ample apology. How dare you, how dare you say such
+things? What you may imagine, what unworthy idea you may have formed,
+is beyond me to guess, but you can know nothing. You can have no real
+reason for condemning me."
+
+"Let me admit that, and leave the matter there," I pleaded. I could
+not bring myself to tell her that she was self-condemned, that she was
+the principal witness against herself. It would have been too cruel,
+ungenerous, to take an unfair advantage. Why should I constitute
+myself her judge?
+
+She looked at me very keenly, her eyes piercing me through and
+through. I felt that she was penetrating my inmost thoughts and
+turning me inside out.
+
+"I will not leave it at that. I insist upon your speaking plainly. I
+must know what is in your mind."
+
+"And if I refuse, distinctly, positively, categorically; if I deny
+your contention, and protest that I have nothing to tell you?"
+
+"I shall not believe you. Come, please, let there be no more evasion.
+I must have it out. I shall stay here until you tell me what you think
+of me, and why."
+
+She seated herself by my side in the narrow velvet seat of the small
+compartment, so close that the folds of her tweed skirt (she had
+removed her ulster) touched and rubbed against me. I was invaded by
+the sweet savour of her gracious presence (she used some delightful
+scent, _violette ideale_, I believe), by putting forth my hand a few
+inches I might have taken hers in mine. She fixed her eyes on me with
+an intent unvarying gaze that under other conditions would have been
+intoxicating, but was now no more than disquieting and embarrassing.
+
+As I was still tongue-tied, she returned to her point with resolute
+insistence.
+
+"Come, Colonel Annesley, how long is this to go on? I want and will
+have an explanation. Why have you formed such a bad opinion of me?"
+
+"How do you know I have done so?" I tried to fence and fight with her,
+but in vain.
+
+"I cannot be mistaken. I myself heard you tell my maid that you wished
+to have nothing to say to us, that we were not your sort. Well! why is
+that? How do I differ from the rest of--your world, let us call it?"
+
+"You do not, as far as I can see. At least you ought to hold your own
+anywhere, in any society, the very best."
+
+"And yet I'm not 'your sort.' Am I a humbug, an impostor, an
+adventuress, a puppet and play-actress? Or is it that I have
+forfeited my right, my rank of gentlewoman, my position in the world,
+your world?"
+
+I was silent, moodily, obstinately silent. She had hit the blot, and
+could put but one interpretation upon it. I saw she guessed I knew
+something. Not how much, perhaps, but something to her discredit. She
+still was not satisfied; she would penetrate my reserve, overcome my
+reticence, have it out of me willy nilly, whether I would or no.
+
+"You cannot surely refuse me? I have my reasons for desiring to know
+the very worst."
+
+"Why drive me to that?" I schooled myself to seem hard and
+uncompromising. I felt I was weakening under the subtle charm of her
+presence, and the pretty pleading of her violet eyes; but I was still
+resolute not to give way.
+
+"If you will only tell me why you think such evil I may be able to
+justify myself, or at least explain away appearances that are against
+me."
+
+"You admit there are such appearances? Remember, I never said so."
+
+"Then on what do you condemn me? You do condemn me, I am certain of
+it," she insisted, seeing my gesture of negation. "Are you treating
+me fairly, chivalrously, as a gentleman and a man of honour should?
+How can you reconcile it to your conscience?"
+
+"Some people talk very lightly of conscience, or use it when it is an
+empty meaningless word," I said severely.
+
+"You imply that I have no conscience, or that I should feel the
+qualms, the prickings of conscience?"
+
+"After what you've done, yes," I blurted out.
+
+"What have I done? What do you know of it, or what led me to do it?
+How dare you judge me without knowing the facts, without a shadow of
+proof?" She sprang to her feet and passed to the door, where she
+turned, as it were, at bay.
+
+"I have the very best proof, from your own lips. I heard you and your
+maid talking together at Calais."
+
+"A listener, Colonel Annesley? Faugh!"
+
+"It was forced on me. You stood under my window there." I defended
+myself indignantly. "I wish to heaven I had never heard. I did not
+want to know; your secrets are your own affair."
+
+"And my actions, I presume?" she put in with superb indifference.
+
+"And their consequences, madam," but the shot failed rather of effect.
+She merely smiled and shook her head recklessly, contemptuously. Was
+she so old a hand, so hardened in crime, that the fears of detection,
+arrest, reprisals, the law and its penalties had no effect upon her?
+Undoubtedly at Calais she was afraid; some misgiving, some haunting
+terror possessed her. Now, when standing before me fully confessed for
+what she was, and practically at my mercy, she could laugh with cool
+and unabashed levity and make little of the whole affair.
+
+If I had hoped that I had done with her now, when the murder was out,
+I was very much mistaken. She had some further designs on me, I was
+sure. She wanted to make use of me, how or in what way I could not
+imagine; but I soon perceived that she was anxious to be friends. The
+woman was in the ascendant, and, as I thought, the eternal feminine
+ever agog to attract and subjugate the male, she would conquer my
+admiration even if she could not secure my esteem.
+
+Suddenly, and quite without my invitation or encouragement, she
+reseated herself by my side.
+
+"See, Colonel Annesley, let us come to an understanding." She said it
+quite gaily and with no shadow of apprehension left in her, not a sign
+of shame or remorse in her voice. Her mood had entirely changed. She
+was _debonnaire_, frolicsome, overflowing with fun.
+
+"What do you mean to do? Give me into custody? Call in the gendarmes
+at the next station? Have me taken red-handed with the--stolen
+property--the 'swag,' you know the word, perhaps, in my possession?"
+
+"I am not a police officer; it's not my business," I answered gruffly.
+I thought this flippancy very much misplaced.
+
+"Or you might telegraph back to England, to London, to Scotland Yard:
+'The woman Blair in the Engadine express. Wire along the line to
+authorities, French and Swiss, to look out for her and arrest
+preparatory to extradition.'"
+
+"I would much rather not continue this conversation, Mrs. Blair."
+
+"I am not 'Mrs. Blair,'" she cried, laughing merrily as at a
+tremendous joke. "It is only one of my aliases. I am better known as
+Slippery Sue, and the Countess of Plantagenet, and the Sly American,
+and dashing Mrs. Mortimer, and--"
+
+"Oh, please, please spare me. It does not matter, not a row of pins,
+what you are called. I would rather not have the whole list," I
+interrupted her, but could not check her restless tongue.
+
+"You shall hear, you must know all about me and my famous exploits. I
+was the heroine of that robbery at Buckingham Palace. I was at the
+State Ball, and made a fine harvest of jewels. I have swept a dozen
+country-houses clean; I have picked pockets and lifted old lace from
+the shop counters, and embezzled and forged--"
+
+"And turned pirate, and held up trains, and robbed the Bank of
+England," I added, falling into her humour and laughing as she rose to
+her full height; and again her mood changed, dominating me with
+imperious air, her voice icily cold in manner, grave and repellent.
+
+"Why not? I am a thief; you believe me to be a common thief."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+I was too much taken aback to do better than stammer out helplessly,
+hopelessly, almost unintelligibly, a few words striving to remind her
+of her own admission. Nothing, indeed, could take the sting out of
+this, and yet it was all but impossible to accuse her, to blame her
+even for what she had done.
+
+She read that in my eyes, in my abashed face, my hands held out
+deprecating her wrath, and her next words had a note of conciliation
+in them.
+
+"There are degrees of wrong-doing, shades of guilt," she said.
+"Crimes, offences, misdeeds, call them as you please, are not
+absolutely unpardonable; in some respects they are excusable, if not
+justifiable. Do you believe that?"
+
+"I should like to do so in your case," I replied gently. "You know I
+am still quite in the dark."
+
+"And you must remain so, for the present at any rate," she said
+firmly and sharply. "I can tell you nothing, I am not called upon to
+do it indeed. We are absolute strangers, I owe you no explanation, and
+I would give you none, even if you asked."
+
+"I have not asked and shall not ask anything."
+
+"Then you are willing to take it so, to put the best construction on
+what you have heard, to forget my words, to surrender your
+suspicions?"
+
+"If you will tell me only this: that I may have confidence in you,
+that I may trust you, some day, to enlighten me and explain what seems
+so incomprehensible to-day."
+
+"I am sorely tempted to do so now," she paused, lost for a time in
+deep and anxious thought; and then, after subjecting me to a long and
+intent scrutiny, she shook her head. "No, it cannot be, not yet. You
+must earn the right to my confidence, you must prove to me that you
+will not misuse it. There are others concerned; I am not speaking for
+myself alone. You must have faith in me, believe in me or let it be."
+
+She had beaten me, conquered me. I was ready to be her slave with
+blind, unquestioning obedience.
+
+"As you think best. I will abide by your decision. Tell me all or
+nothing. If the first I will help you, if the latter I will also help
+you as far as lies in my power."
+
+"Without conditions?" And when I nodded assent such a smile lit up her
+face that more than repaid me, and stifled the doubts and qualms that
+still oppressed me. But, bewitched by the sorcery of her bright eyes,
+I said bravely:
+
+"I accept service--I am yours to command. Do with me what you please."
+
+"Will you give me your hand on it?" She held out hers, gloveless,
+white and warm, and it lay in mine just a second while I pressed it to
+my lips in token of fealty and submission.
+
+"You shall be my knight and champion, and I say it seriously. I may
+call you to fight for me, at least to defend and protect me in my
+present undertaking. The way is by no means clear. I cannot foresee
+what may happen on this journey. There are risks, dangers before me. I
+may ask you to share them. Do you repent already?"
+
+She had been watching me closely for any sign of wavering, but I
+showed none, whatever I might feel in my inmost heart.
+
+"I shall not disappoint you," was what I said, and, in a firm assured
+voice, added, "You have resolved then to travel forward in this
+train?"
+
+"I must, I have no choice. I dare not tarry by the way. But I no
+longer feel quite alone and unprotected. If trouble arises, I tell you
+candidly I shall try to throw it on you."
+
+"From what quarter do you anticipate it?" I asked innocently enough.
+"You expect to be pursued, I presume?"
+
+She held up a warning finger.
+
+"That is not in the compact. You are not to be inquisitive. Ask me no
+questions, please, but wait on events. For the present you must be
+satisfied so, and there is nothing more to be said."
+
+"I shall see you again, I trust," I pleaded, as she rose to leave me.
+
+"If you wish, by all means. Why should we not dine together in the
+dining-car by and by?" she proposed with charming frankness, in the
+lighter mood that sat so well upon her. "The waiters will be there to
+play propriety, and no Mrs. Grundy within miles."
+
+"Or your maid might be chaperon at an adjoining table."
+
+"Philpotts? Impossible! She cannot leave--she must remain on duty; one
+of us must be in charge always. Who knows what might happen when our
+backs were turned? We might lose it--it might be abstracted. Horrible
+thought after all it has cost us."
+
+"'It' has evidently an extraordinary value in your eyes. If only I
+might be allowed to--" know more, I would have said, but she chose to
+put other words into my mouth.
+
+"To join us in the watching? Take your turn of 'sentry go'--isn't that
+your military term? Become one of us, belong to a gang of thieves,
+liable like the rest of us to the law? Ah, that would be trying you
+too far. I see your face fall."
+
+"I am ready to do much to serve you. I would gladly help you, see you
+through any difficulty by the way, but I'm afraid I must draw the line
+at active partnership," I answered a little lamely under her mocking
+eyes. Once more, as suddenly as before, she veered round.
+
+"There is a limit, then, to your devotion?" She was coldly sarcastic
+now, and I realized painfully that I had receded in her favour. "I
+must not expect unhesitating self-sacrifice? So be it; it is well to
+know how far I may go. I sincerely hope I may have no need of you at
+all. How thankful I am that I never let you into my secrets! Good
+afternoon," and with a contemptuous whisk of her skirts and a laugh,
+she was gone.
+
+"I'll have nothing more to say to her," I cried in great heat, vexed
+and irritated beyond measure at her capricious temper. I should only
+be dragged into some pitfall, some snare, some dire unpleasantness.
+But what did I know of her real character? What of my first doubts and
+suspicions? She had by no means dispelled them. She had only
+bamboozled me by her insinuating ways, had drawn me on by her guileful
+cleverness to pity and promises to befriend her. I had accorded her an
+active sympathy which in my more sober moments I felt she did not,
+could not, deserve; if I were not careful she would yet involve me in
+some inextricable mess.
+
+So for half an hour I abused her fiercely; I swore at myself hotly as
+an ass, a hopeless and unmitigated ass, ever ready to be betrayed and
+beguiled by woman's wiles, the too easy victim of the first pretty
+face I saw. The fit lasted for quite half an hour, and then came the
+reaction. I heard her rich deep voice singing in my ears, I felt the
+haunting glamour of her eyes, remembered her gracious presence, and my
+heart went out to her. I was so sorry for her: how could I cast her
+off? How could I withhold my countenance if she were in real distress?
+She was a woman--a weak, helpless woman; I could not desert and
+abandon her. However reprehensible her conduct might have been, she
+had a claim to my protection from ill-usage, and I knew in my heart
+that she might count upon a good deal more. I knew, of course, that I
+ought not to stand between her and the inevitable Nemesis that awaits
+upon misdeeds, but what if I helped her to avoid or escape it?
+
+The opportunity was nearer at hand than I thought. My kindly
+intentions, bred of my latest sentiments towards Mrs. Blair, were soon
+to be put to the test.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The train reached Amiens punctually at 5 P.M., and a stoppage
+of five minutes was announced. I got out to stretch my legs on the
+platform. No one took much notice of us; it must have been known that
+the train was empty, for there were no waiters from the buffet with
+_cafe au lait_ or fruit, or _brioches_--no porters about, or other
+officials.
+
+I had not expected to see any passengers come on board the train, a
+through express, made up of sleeping-cars and a supplementary charge
+on the tickets. But on running into the station (ours was the first
+carriage) I had noticed a man standing with a valise in his hand, and
+I saw him following the train down the platform when we stopped. He
+addressed himself to a little group of conductors who had already
+alighted, and were gossiping idly among themselves, having nothing
+else to do. One of them indicated our particular attendant, to whom
+he spoke, and who brought him directly to our carriage.
+
+Evidently the newcomer was bound for Lucerne _via_ Basle. Here was one
+more occupant of our neglected train, another companion and fellow
+traveller in our nearly empty sleeping-car. Curiosity and something
+more led me to examine this man closely; it was a strange, undefined,
+inexplicable sense of foreboding, of fateful forecast, that he and I
+were destined to be thrown together unpleasantly, to be much mixed up
+with one another, and to the comfort and satisfaction of neither.
+
+Who and what was he? His position in life, his business, trade or
+calling were not to be easily fixed; a commercial man, an agent or
+"traveller" on his own account, well-to-do and prosperous, was the
+notion borne out by his dress, his white waistcoat and coloured shirt
+of amazing pattern (a hint of his Italian origin), his rings and the
+showy diamond pin in his smart necktie.
+
+I added to this, my first impression, by further observation, for
+which I soon had abundant opportunity. When the train moved on, he
+came and took his seat on the flap seat (or _strapontin_) just
+opposite my compartment. I could not tell why, until presently he
+made overtures of sociability and began a desultory talk across the
+corridor. My cabin or compartment, it will be remembered, was the last
+but one; the newcomer had been given the one behind mine, and here
+from his seat he commanded the whole length of the carriage forward,
+which included the compartment occupied by Mrs. Blair and her party.
+
+I cannot say that I liked his looks or was greatly attracted by him.
+He was not prepossessing. Fair, with a flaccid unwholesome complexion,
+foxy haired, his beard cut to a point, small moustaches curled upward
+showing thin pale lips, and giving his mouth a disagreeable curve also
+upwards, a sort of set smile that was really a sardonic sneer,
+conveying distrust and disbelief in all around. His eyes were so deep
+set as to be almost lost in their recesses behind his sandy eyelashes,
+and he kept them screwed up close, with the intent watchful gaze of an
+animal about to make a spring. His whole aspect, his shifty, restless
+manner, his furtive looks, all were antipathetic and to his great
+advantage. I did not take to him at all, and plainly showed him that
+I had no desire for his talk or his company.
+
+It was not easy to shake him off, however. He would take no offence; I
+was cold to positive rudeness, I snubbed him unmercifully; I did not
+answer his remarks or his questions, which were incessant and
+shamelessly inquisitorial. Nothing disconcerted him. I had all but
+shut the door of my compartment in his face, but it suddenly occurred
+to me that he was capable of wandering on, and when he found the
+ladies inflicting his greasy attentions upon them.
+
+I felt that I had better submit to his unpalatable society than let
+him bore Mrs. Blair with his colossal impudence.
+
+How right I was in this became at once apparent. He had taken out a
+cigar-case and pressed one upon me with such pertinacious, offensive
+familiarity that I could see no way out of it than by saying
+peremptorily:
+
+"You cannot smoke here. There are ladies in that compartment yonder."
+
+"Ladies indeed! You surprise me," but I saw a look on his face that
+convinced me he perfectly well knew they were there. "Ladies, aha! How
+many, may I ask?"
+
+"One at least, with her maid and a child," I replied gruffly.
+
+"And a child," he repeated, as if by rote. "Does monsieur, tell me
+quickly, I--I--beg--know them! Can he describe them to me?"
+
+"I shall tell you nothing about them. What the mischief do you mean by
+asking me questions? Find out what you want for yourself." I was hot
+and indignant with the brute.
+
+"By George, you're right. I'll go and ask for leave to smoke. I shall
+find out then," and he jumped up, the spring seat closing with a bang
+from under him.
+
+The noise concealed the sound of the electric bell which I had pressed
+to summon the attendant, as I rushed out and caught the other man by
+the arm.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind," I cried with very vigorous emphasis,
+backed by all my strength. "I'll shake you to a jelly if you dare to
+move another inch."
+
+"Here, I say, drop it. Who the deuce are you? None of your bally
+nonsense. Hands off, or I'll make you."
+
+But he was too soft and flabby to avail much, and I dragged him back
+helplessly with tightened grip, only too delighted to try conclusions
+with him.
+
+At this moment the conductor appeared upon the scene, and began to
+expostulate loudly.
+
+"Here, I say, what's all this? It can't be allowed. No fighting and
+quarrelling are permitted."
+
+"Well, then, people must behave themselves," I retorted. "Don't let
+this chap annoy your passengers."
+
+"I have done nothing to annoy them," stammered the other. "You shall
+answer for this. I've done no harm."
+
+"I'll see you don't. Get in there and stay there;" and with that I
+forced him, almost flung him, into his compartment, where he fell
+panting upon the velvet sofa.
+
+"You'd better keep an eye on him," I said to the conductor, who was
+inclined to be disagreeable, and was barely pacified by a couple of
+five-franc pieces. "Fellows of this sort are apt to be a nuisance, and
+we must take care of the ladies."
+
+As I said this I saw Mrs. Blair's face peering out beyond her door a
+little nervously, but she ventured to come right out and along the
+passage towards me.
+
+"What has happened? I heard some noise, high words, a scuffle."
+
+"Some ruffian who got in at Amiens, and who has had to be taught
+manners. I told him not to smoke here, and he wanted to intrude
+himself upon you, which I prevented, a little forcibly."
+
+"Where is he? In here?" and she followed the indication of my thumb as
+I jerked it back, and looked over my shoulder into the compartment.
+
+"Ah!" The ejaculation was involuntary, and one of acute painful
+surprise, the gesture that accompanied it spontaneous and full of
+terror.
+
+"That man! that man!" she gasped. "He must not see me; let me go, let
+me go!"
+
+But her strength failed her, and but for my supporting arm she would
+have fallen to the ground. Half-fainting, I led her back to her own
+compartment, where her maid received her tenderly and with comforting
+words. There was clearly a strong bond of affection between these two,
+possibly companions and confederates in wrong-doing; the delicate and
+refined woman, tormented by the inner qualms of outraged conscience,
+relied and leant upon the stronger and more resolute nature.
+
+"What's come to you, ma'am? There, there, don't give way," said the
+maid, softly coaxing her and stroking her hands.
+
+"Oh, Philpotts, fancy! He is there! Falfani, the--the--you know--"
+
+Of course I saw it all now. Stupid ass! I might have guessed it all
+along. I had puzzled my brains vainly trying to place him, to fix his
+quality and condition in life, neglecting the one simple obvious
+solution to which so many plain indications pointed. The man, of
+course, was a detective, an officer or private agent, and his dirty
+business--you see, I was already shaken in my honesty, and now with
+increasing demoralization under seductive influences I was already
+inclined to cross over to the other side of the frontier of crime--his
+dirty business was the persecution of my sweet friend.
+
+"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Blair, her nervous trepidation
+increasing. "I begin to think we shall fail, we cannot carry it
+through, we shall lose our treasure. It will be taken from us."
+
+"You cannot, you must not, shall not turn back now," said the maid
+with great determination. "We must devise something, some way, of
+outwitting this Falfani. We did it before, we must do it again. After
+all he has no power over us; we are in France and shall be in
+Switzerland by daylight."
+
+"We ought to go on, you think? Wouldn't it be better to slip out of
+the train at the first station and run away?"
+
+"He would do the same. He does not intend to let us out of his sight.
+And how much the better should we be? It would be far worse; we should
+be much more at his mercy if we left the train. The journey would
+still have to be made; we must get to the end, the very end, or we'd
+better not have started."
+
+"He will know then, if he sticks to us. We cannot hide it from him,
+nor where we have taken it; we shall never be able to keep it, they
+will come and claim it and recover it;" and she cried hysterically: "I
+cannot see my way; it's all dark, black as night. I wish--I wish--"
+
+"That you had never done it?" quickly asked the maid; and I noticed a
+slight sarcasm in her tone that was not without its effect in bracing
+up and strengthening her companion's shattered nerves.
+
+"No, no, no; I do not regret it, and I never shall. I did it
+deliberately, counting the cost fully, and it shall be paid, however
+heavy it may be. It is not regret that tortures me, but the fear of
+failure when so near success."
+
+"We will succeed yet. Do not be cast down, my sweet dear." The maid
+patted her on the cheek with great affection. "We shall find a way.
+This gentleman, the colonel here, will help us, perhaps."
+
+"Will you?" Who could resist her pleading voice and shining eyes? If I
+had had any scruples left I would have thrown them to the winds.
+
+"Whatever lies in my power to do shall be done without stint or
+hesitation," I said solemnly, careless of all consequences, content to
+hold her hand and earn her heartfelt thanks. What though I were
+pawning my honour?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+[_The Statement of Domenico Falfani, confidential agent,
+made to his employers, Messrs. Becke and Co., of the Private
+Inquiry Offices, 279 St. Martin's Lane, W.C._]
+
+
+I propose, gentlemen, to set down here at length the story of my
+mission, and the events which befell me from the time I first received
+my instructions. You desired me to pursue and call to strict account a
+certain lady of title, who had fallen away from her high estate and
+committed an act of rank felony. The circumstances which led up to her
+disappearance and the partners of her flight are already well known to
+you.
+
+The only indication given me, as you are aware, was that I might take
+it for granted that she would go abroad and probably by the most
+direct route to the South, to Switzerland and across the Alps into
+Italy. My orders having only reached me in the early morning, the
+theft having presumably been committed during the night previous to
+Sunday, September 21, I was unable to ascertain through the tourist
+agencies whether any and what tickets had been booked in the
+directions indicated.
+
+My most urgent duty then was to watch the outgoing Continental trains,
+the first of which left Charing Cross for Dover and Calais at 9
+A.M. I closely watched it therefore, and its passengers, and
+travelled with it to Cannon Street, where I continued my search, but
+without result. I was greatly helped in my quest by the not unusual
+fact noticeable on Sundays, that travellers abroad are few in number.
+
+I had no difficulty in satisfying myself that the lady and her party
+were not in this train, and I returned at once to Charing Cross in
+time for the second Continental train, the 10 A.M.
+
+I had resolved to book myself by that as far as Amiens, for I knew
+that, once there, I should have reached a central point or junction, a
+sort of throat through which every train moving southward to Paris or
+Switzerland must pass.
+
+There remained, of course, the route via Dover by Ostend and through
+Brussels; but I had been informed by you that Ludovic Tiler, my
+colleague and coworker, was to undertake the inquiry on that line.
+
+It is part of my business to be thoroughly familiar with the
+Continental Bradshaw, and I soon ticked off the different trains that
+interested me.
+
+There was first the 11 A.M. from Victoria by Dover and
+Calais, where it connected with the Paris express and the sleeping-car
+Engadine express, both of which run through Amiens, where, however,
+the latter branches off to Basle and beyond, with special cars for
+Lucerne, Zurich and Coire.
+
+Then came the 2.20 P.M. from Charing Cross to Folkestone, and
+so to Boulogne, Amiens and the rest, travelling the same road as the
+Engadine express. This was the last of the day service, as it gave
+most time, allowing people to start at the very latest moment, and I
+felt it quite probable that my lady would prefer to take it.
+
+I reached Amiens a little before 5 P.M., and I had a wait of
+half an hour for the first express from Calais. I was greatly
+disappointed when at last it appeared issuing from the tunnel, and
+passed me where I stood at the commencement of the platform, taking
+stock of each carriage as it passed. The train seemed to be quite
+empty; there were no passengers, so the officials, the conductors,
+informed me when I talked to them, sad and unhappy at the certain loss
+of tips. Only one of them had any luck, Jules l'Echelle, of the
+Lucerne sleeping-car, who had one or two people on board.
+
+I questioned him not very hopefully, but was agreeably surprised when
+he told me that his clients consisted of two ladies with a child, and
+one gentleman. English? Yes, all English. The lady, quite a lady, a
+_grande dame belle personne_, tall, fine figure, well dressed; her
+companion no doubt her servant; the child, well, an ordinary child, an
+infant in arms. What would you?
+
+I had them, I felt sure. There could be no mistaking this description.
+I held them in the hollow of my hand. Here they were in this car, and
+it would be all my own fault if they escaped me. It would be necessary
+only to verify my conclusions, to identify the lady according to the
+description and photograph given me. For the rest I knew what to do.
+
+But now a quite unexpected difficulty turned up.
+
+As I have said, there was one other passenger, a gentleman, in the
+car, and I felt it would be prudent to make his acquaintance. No doubt
+I could tell at the first glance whether or not he was an ordinary
+traveller, or whether he was a friend and accomplice of the lady under
+observation.
+
+I regret to say that he met me in a very hostile spirit. I was at
+great pains to be affable, to treat him with all the courtly
+consideration I have at command, and I flatter myself that in the
+matter of tact and good-breeding I do not yield to princes of the
+blood royal. But my civility was quite thrown away. The man was an
+absolute brute, abrupt, overbearing, rude. Nothing would conciliate
+him. I offered him a cigar (a Borneo of the best brand, at 10s. the
+hundred), and he not only refused it, but positively forbade me to
+smoke. There were ladies in the carriage, he said (this was the first
+reference made to them), and, when declining to be ordered about, I
+proposed to refer the question to themselves, he threw himself
+violently upon me and assaulted me brutally.
+
+Fortunately the attendant came to my rescue or I should have been
+seriously injured. He lifted me into my compartment very kindly, and
+acted like an old friend, as indeed he was, for I remembered him as
+the Jules l'Echelle with whom I served some time back as an assistant
+at the Baths of Bormio.
+
+It was, of course, clear to my mind that my assailant was associated
+in some way with the lady, and probably a confederate. I saw that I
+must know more about him, with the least possible delay, and as soon
+as Jules had left me, promising to return later and talk of old times,
+and the changes that had come over us since then, I ventured to look
+out and get a glimpse of the other man, I will not call him gentleman
+after his conduct.
+
+He was nowhere in sight, but I could hear his voice, several voices,
+talking together at the far end. No doubt he had joined his friends in
+their compartment, and the moment seemed opportune to visit his. It
+was next to mine, and the door stood invitingly open. A few minutes,
+seconds even, would be enough to tell me something of his identity,
+perhaps all I wanted to.
+
+At least he made no pretence at mystery; his light baggage lay about,
+a dressing bag, a roll of rugs, a couple of sticks and an umbrella
+strapped together, all very neat and precise and respectable, and all
+alike furnished with a parchment tag or label bearing in plain
+language all that I wanted to know.
+
+His name was printed "Lieut.-Col. Basil Annesley," and his club, the
+Mars and Neptune, that famous military house in Piccadilly.
+Underneath, on all, his destination was written, "Hotel Bellevue,
+Bellagio, Como." There could never be the least difficulty in finding
+this person if I wanted him, as I thought likely. He was a blustering,
+swashbuckling army officer, who could always be brought to account if
+he misconducted himself, or mixed himself up in shady transactions.
+
+In my great contentment at the discovery I had been wanting in
+caution, and I lingered too long on forbidden ground.
+
+"You infernal scoundrel," cried some one from the door, and once more
+I felt an angry hand on my shoulder. "How come you here? Explain
+yourself."
+
+"It's all a mistake," I began, trying to make the best of it,
+struggling to get free. But he still held me in a grip of iron, and it
+was not until my friend Jules appeared that I got out of the enemy's
+clutches.
+
+"Here, I say!" shouted Jules vaguely. "This won't do, you know. I
+shall have to lodge a complaint against you for brawling."
+
+"Complaint, by George!" he replied, shaking his fist at me. "The boot
+is on the other leg, I take it. How is it that I find this chap in my
+compartment? Foraging about, I believe."
+
+"Indeed no, Colonel Annesley," I protested, forgetting myself; and he
+caught at it directly.
+
+"Oho, so you know my name! That proves what I say. You've been messing
+about and overhauling my things. I won't stand it. The man's a thief.
+He will have to be locked up."
+
+"I'm not the only thief in the car, then," I cried, for I was now mad
+with him and his threats.
+
+"I don't know what you're driving at, or whom you think to accuse; but
+I tell you this, my friend, that I shall call in the police at the
+next station and hand you over."
+
+I looked at the conductor Jules, appealing for protection. I saw at
+once that it would be terrible for me to have any trouble with the
+police. They could do me no harm, but I might be delayed, obliged to
+leave the train, and I should lose sight of the lady, possibly fail
+altogether.
+
+Jules responded at once. "Come, come," he said. "You're talking big.
+You might own the whole train. Who might you be?"
+
+"None of your confounded impudence," shouted the Colonel, as he
+pointed to one of the luggage labels. "That's who I am. It's good
+enough to get you discharged before you're a much older man. And now I
+call upon you to do your duty. I have caught this man under suspicious
+circumstances in the very act of rifling my effects. I insist upon his
+being taken into custody."
+
+"There isn't enough for that," Jules answered, still my friend, but
+weakening a little before this masterly army officer, and I felt that
+I must speak for myself.
+
+"And if you stop me I will have the law of you for false imprisonment,
+and bring heavy damages. You will be doing me a great injury in my
+business."
+
+"Precisely what I should like to do, my fine fellow. I can guess what
+your business is. Nothing reputable, I feel sure."
+
+"I'm not ashamed of it, and I have powerful friends behind me. I am
+acting for--"
+
+"Yes?" he asked me mockingly, for I had checked my tongue, fearing to
+say too much.
+
+"It is my affair. Enough that you will feel the weight of their hands
+if you interfere with me in carrying out their instructions."
+
+"Well, anyhow, tell me who you are. I've a right to know that in
+exchange. You chose to help yourself to my name; now I insist upon
+knowing yours."
+
+I told him, not very readily, as may be supposed.
+
+"Domenico Falfani? Is that your own or a 'purser's' name? Come, you
+know what I mean. It's part of your stock in trade to understand all
+languages, including slang. Is that the name he has given you?"--this
+to the conductor. "Show me your way-bill, your _feuille de route_."
+
+Jules at a nod from me produced it, and no doubt understood my reason
+when in my turn I claimed to see it.
+
+"I have a clear right," I insisted, overruling all objections raised
+by the Colonel; and taking it into my hands I read the names aloud,
+"Colonel Annesley, Mrs. Blair, maid and child." I pronounced the name
+with great contempt.
+
+"You talk of purser's names," I said sneeringly. "What do you think of
+this? Blair, indeed! No more the woman's name than Smith or Jones, or
+what you please."
+
+"Speak more respectfully of a lady," cried the Colonel, catching me
+tightly by the arm.
+
+"Lady? Oho! Don't, Colonel, drop it. At any rate, she is not Mrs.
+Blair; you may take that from me," I said as impressively as a judge
+on the bench. "And what's more, Colonel, I wouldn't press charges you
+can't substantiate against me, or I may hit back with another not so
+easy to meet. Try to stop me at the next station, and I'll stop your
+pal--ah, don't"--he had a cruelly strong hand--"your Mrs. Blair, and
+she'll find herself in a particularly tight place."
+
+"We'll see about that," said the Colonel, who kept a stiff face, but
+was, I think, rather crestfallen. "I shall act as I think best.
+Anyhow, get out of this, both of you. This is my private berth, and
+you are trespassing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Whatever may have been the Colonel's intentions when he caught me in
+his compartment, something, and I think my last words, led him to
+modify them. He felt, probably, that if he attacked me I might
+retaliate unpleasantly. I ought to be able to hold my own with him,
+although in truth I was not over happy at the course events had taken,
+and I could not compliment myself on my good management.
+
+I had not been overprudent; I had pressed my attentions on him rather
+abruptly, although I had the excuse that I usually found them well
+received, thanks to my affable address; again I had behaved most
+incautiously in penetrating his identity.
+
+And, worse than all, I had still no certainty. I could only surmise
+that the lady was the one I was in search of, for I had not as yet
+clapt eyes on her, and I had been to some extent driven to show my
+hand before I had made my ground good. So the first thing I did on
+regaining my own compartment was to ring for Jules, the conductor, and
+put before him the photograph with which I was provided, and ask him
+if he recognized it.
+
+"But perfectly. It is the lady yonder," he said promptly. "Is it your
+own, or did you find it or annex it from next door? Ah, your own; and
+what have you to do with her?"
+
+"I may tell you some day, Jules. For the present you must know that I
+am after her; I have to watch her, stick to her like her shadow until
+it is time to act."
+
+"An adventuress, eh?"
+
+"She is in possession of what does not belong to her; something she
+abstracted from--from--Never mind where, and it must be recovered from
+her here, or after she leaves the car."
+
+"Afterwards, please. We can't have any scandal on board here."
+
+"Five hundred francs wouldn't tempt you to let me have a free hand for
+just half an hour? I could do it, say somewhere short of Basle, and on
+reaching there make off. No one should be any the wiser, and they, the
+women, wouldn't dare to make a fuss."
+
+"It's I who do not dare--not for twice five hundred francs. My place
+is worth more than that; and if it is a dog's life, it is better than
+lying on the straw. Besides, there's her friend the Colonel, he'll be
+on the alert, you may depend."
+
+"So must I be, and I must find some way to circumvent him. I'll be
+even with him. He sha'n't beat me, the overbearing, hectoring brute.
+It's between him and me, and I think I'm a match for him."
+
+I spoke this confidently to my friend, who engaged for his part to do
+all in his power to assist, or at least to do nothing against me, and
+I was content to bide my time. Pride goes before a fall. I was not as
+clever as I thought, and shall have to tell you how seriously I had
+underrated his worth in the coming trial of strength.
+
+As the train sped on and the night began to close in on us, I remained
+quietly in my berth, pondering over my position, and in considering
+the course I should adopt under various contingencies. The first and
+most serious danger was that the lady should succeed in leaving the
+train at any of the intermediate stations at Basle, and so give me
+the slip. There were Laon, Rheims, Chaumont, and the rest.
+
+It must be my business to keep close watch against any evasion of this
+kind, and Jules had promised to help. I did not look for any such
+attempt until far into the night, when the stations were empty and
+half-dark, and I agreed with Jules to divide the hours till daylight,
+he taking the first, I the last. We were due at Basle at 5 A.M., and I
+expected to join forces then with Tiler, my colleague, coming from the
+side of Ostend, via Brussels and Strasburg.
+
+Meanwhile I kept quiet and made no sign beyond showing that I was
+there and on the spot ready to act if it should be necessary. Thus,
+when the train slackened speed on approaching a station, I was always
+on the move and the first to descend and patrol the platform. The
+Colonel always got out too, but he never accosted me; indeed, he
+seemed disposed to despise me, to ignore my existence, or dare me to
+the worst I could do.
+
+I suppose the lady must have been of the same mind, for when
+dinner-time arrived, she came boldly out of her compartment, and I met
+her face to face for the first time, on her way to the restaurant. I
+was standing at the door of my compartment.
+
+"Dinner is ready," the Colonel said to me significantly, but I did not
+choose to understand, and shook my head, holding my ground.
+
+"You are coming to dinner, I think," he repeated in a sharp commanding
+way, as if he were talking to his soldiers.
+
+"I shall please myself about that," I replied gruffly.
+
+"Not a bit of it. One moment," he whispered to the lady, who walked
+on, and turned again to me: "Now see here, my friend, I do not mean to
+leave you behind. You will come to the dining-car with us, and no two
+ways about it, even if I have to carry you."
+
+"I won't dine with you," I cried.
+
+"I never asked you to dine with me, but you shall dine when I do. I
+will pay for your dinner, but I wouldn't sit at table with you for
+worlds," he shouted with scornful laughter. "You're going to dine
+under my eye, that's all, even though the sight of you is enough to
+make one sick. So come along, sharp's the word, see? Walk first; let
+him pass you, Mrs. Blair."
+
+I felt I had no choice. He was capable of again assaulting me. There
+was something in his manner that cowed me, and I was obliged in spite
+of myself to give way.
+
+There were only three of us in the dining-car, and we were not a very
+merry company. Our tables were laid almost adjoining, and there was no
+conversation between us, except when the Colonel asked me with
+contemptuous civility what wine I preferred. He did not talk to the
+lady, or the merest commonplaces, for I was within earshot. But I made
+an excellent dinner, I must confess. I had eaten nothing since Amiens.
+Then I got back to my berth, where the bed was made. I threw myself on
+to it, rejoiced at the prospect of getting a few hours' sleep while
+Jules remained on the watch.
+
+He was to call me a little before reaching Basle, and, like an ass
+that I was, I fully relied on his doing so, believing him to be my
+friend. Such friendship as his did not bear any great strain, as I
+learnt presently to my great chagrin.
+
+I slept heavily, but in fitful snatches, as a man does when constantly
+disturbed by the whirr and whizzing of the train, the rattle and
+jangle of wheels passing over ill-jointed points. After one of the
+longest periods of unconsciousness I awoke, aroused by the complete
+absence of noise. The train was at a standstill in some station and
+making a very protracted halt.
+
+Something moved me to lift the blind and look out, and I saw, not
+without uneasiness, that we were at Basle. I thought I recognized the
+station, but I soon made out for certain the name "Basilea" (Basle),
+and saw the clock with the fingers at five-thirty. People were already
+on the move, work-people, the thrifty, industrious Swiss, forestalling
+time, travellers in twos and threes arriving and departing by the
+early train through this great junction on the frontier of
+Switzerland.
+
+Stay! What? Who are those crossing the platform hurriedly. Great
+powers! Right under my eyes, a little party of four, two females, two
+men accompanying them, escorting them, carrying rugs and parcels.
+There could not be a shadow of doubt.
+
+It was the lady, the so-called Mrs. Blair, in full flight, with all
+her belongings, and under the care and guidance not only of the
+Colonel, that of course, but also of the perfidious Jules l'Echelle.
+He had sold me! All doubt of his treachery disappeared when on rushing
+to the door I found I had been locked into my compartment.
+
+I rang the electric bell frantically, again and again. I got no
+answer; I threw up the window and thrust my head out, shouting for
+help, but got none, only one or two sluggish porters came up and asked
+what was amiss, answering stolidly, when they heard, that it was none
+of their business. "They had no key, it must be a mistake. The
+conductor would explain, I must wait till he came."
+
+Presently Jules arrived, walking very leisurely from the direction of
+the restaurant, and he stood right under my window with a grin on his
+face and mockery in his voice.
+
+"What's wrong? Locked in? Can't be possible? Who could have done it? I
+will inquire," he said slowly and imperturbably.
+
+"No, no; let me out first. You can do it if you choose. I believe it
+was your trickery from the first. I must get out, I tell you, or they
+will escape me," I cried.
+
+"Not unlikely. I may say it is pretty certain they will. That was the
+Colonel's idea; you'd better talk to him about it next time you see
+him."
+
+"And that will be never, I expect. He's not going to show up here
+again."
+
+"There you're wrong; he will be back before the train starts, you may
+rely on that, and you'll be able to talk to him. We'll let you out
+then," he was laughing at me, traitor that he was. "Here he comes.
+We're just going on."
+
+Now I saw my last chance of successfully performing my mission
+disappearing beyond recall. I renewed my shouts and protests, but was
+only laughed at for my pains. The railway officials at Basle might
+have interfered, but Jules answered for me, declaring with a
+significant gesture that I was in drink and that he would see to me.
+
+I quite despaired. Already the train was moving out of the station,
+when, to my intense joy, I caught sight of Ludovic Tiler, who came
+down the platform running alongside us, and crying, "Falfani,
+Falfani," as he recognized me.
+
+"Don't mind me," I shouted to him. "I must go on, I can't help myself.
+It's for you to take it up now. She's in the restaurant. You'll easily
+know her, in a long ulster, with her maid and the child. You can't
+miss her. By the Lord, she is standing at the door! Get away with
+you, don't let her see you talking with me. She must not know we are
+acting in common, and I do hope she hasn't noticed. Be off, I tell
+you, only let me hear of you; wire to Lucerne what you're doing.
+Address telegraph-office. Send me a second message at Goeschenen. I
+shall get one or both. Say where I may answer and where I can join
+you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+The timely appearance of my colleague, Ludovic Tiler, consoled me a
+little for the loss of the lady and her lot. I had failed, myself, but
+I hoped that with my lead he would get on to the scent and keep to it.
+Ere long, on the first intimation from him I might come into the game
+again. I should be guided by his wire if I got it.
+
+For the moment I was most concerned to find out whether Tiler's
+intervention and my short talk with him had been noticed by the other
+side. If the Colonel knew that another man was on his friend's track,
+he would surely have left the train at once so as to go to her
+assistance. But he was still in the train, I could hear him plainly,
+speaking to Jules in the next compartment. Again, as we sped on, I
+reasoned favourably from their leaving me as I was, still under lock
+and key. No one came near me until after we had passed Olten station,
+the first stopping-place after Basle, where I could alight and retrace
+my steps. By holding on to me I guessed that I was still thought to
+be the chief danger, and that they had no suspicion of Tiler's
+existence.
+
+I laughed in my sleeve, but not the less did I rage and storm when
+Jules l'Echelle came with the Colonel to release me.
+
+"You shall pay for this," I cried hotly.
+
+"As for you, l'Echelle, it shall cost you your place, and I'll take
+the law of you, Colonel Annesley; I'll get damages and you shall
+answer for your illegal action."
+
+"Pfui!" retorted the Colonel. "The mischief you can do is nothing to
+what you might have done. We can stand the racket. I've bested you for
+the present--that's the chief thing, anyway. You can't persecute the
+poor lady any more."
+
+"Poor lady! Do you know who she is or was, anyway?"
+
+"Of course I do," he answered bold as brass.
+
+"Did she let on? Told you, herself? My word! She's got a nerve. I
+wonder she'd own to it after all she's done."
+
+"Silence!" he shouted, in a great taking. "If you dare to utter a
+single word against that lady, I'll break every bone in your body."
+
+"I'm saying nothing--it's not me, it's all the world. It was in the
+papers, you must have read them, the most awful story, such--such
+depravity there never was--such treachery, such gross misconduct."
+
+He caught me by the arm so violently and looked so fierce that for a
+moment I was quite alarmed.
+
+"Drop it, I tell you. Leave the lady alone, both by word and deed.
+You'll never find her again, I've seen to that. She has escaped you."
+
+"Aha! You think so? Don't be too cocksure. We understand our
+business better than that, we don't go into it single-handed. You've
+collared me for a bit, but I'm not the only one in the show."
+
+"The only one that counts," he said sneering.
+
+"Am I?" I answered in the same tone. "What if I had a pal waiting for
+me at Basle, who received my instructions there--just when you thought
+you had me safe--and has now taken up the running?"
+
+He was perfectly staggered at this, I could see plainly. I thought at
+first he would have struck me, he was so much upset.
+
+"You infernal villain," he shouted, "I believe the whole thing is a
+confounded lie! Explain."
+
+"I owe you no explanations," I replied stiffly, "my duty is to my
+employers. I only account to them for my conduct. I am a confidential
+agent."
+
+He seemed impressed by this, for when he spoke again it was more
+quietly. But he looked me very straight in the eyes. I felt that he
+was still likely to give trouble.
+
+"Well, I suppose I cannot expect you to tell me things. You must go
+your own way and I shall go mine."
+
+"I should advise you to leave it, Colonel," I said, civilly enough.
+"I'm always anxious to conciliate and avoid unpleasantness. Give up
+the whole business; you will only burn your fingers."
+
+"Ah! How so?"
+
+"The law is altogether against you. It is a nasty job; better not be
+mixed up in it. Have you any idea what that woman--that lady," I
+corrected myself, for his eyes flashed, "has done?"
+
+"Nothing really wrong," he was warming up into a new burst of passion.
+
+"Tell that to the Courts and to the Judge when you are prosecuted for
+contempt and charged as an accessory after the fact. How will you like
+that? It will take the starch out of you."
+
+"Rot! The law can't do us much harm. The only person who might make it
+disagreeable is Lord Blackadder, and I snap my fingers at him."
+
+"The Earl of Blackadder? Are you mad? He is a great personage, a rich
+and powerful nobleman. You cannot afford to fight him; he will be too
+strong for you. He has been made the victim of an abominable outrage,
+and will spare no effort, no means, no money to recover his own."
+
+"Lord Blackadder is a cad--a cruel, cowardly ruffian. I know all about
+him and what has happened. It would give me the greatest pleasure to
+kick him down the street. Failing that, I shall do my best to upset
+and spoil his schemes, and so you know."
+
+I smiled contemptuously. "A mere Colonel against an Earl! What sort of
+a chance have you? It's too absurd."
+
+"We shall see. Those laugh longest who laugh last."
+
+By this time our talk was done, for we were approaching Lucerne, and
+I began to think over my next plans. All must depend on what I heard
+there--upon what news, if any, came from Ludovic Tiler.
+
+So on my arrival I made my way straight to the telegraph-office in the
+corner of the great station, and on showing my card an envelope was
+handed to me. It was from Tiler at Basle, and ran as follows:
+
+"They have booked through by 7.30 A.M., via Brienne, Lausanne
+to Brieg, and I suppose the Simplon. I shall accompany. Can you join
+me at either end--Brieg or Domo Dossola? The sooner the better. Wire
+me from all places along the route, giving your movements. Address me
+in my train No. 70."
+
+The news pointed pretty clearly to the passage of the Alps and descent
+into Italy by another route than the St. Gothard. I had my Bradshaw in
+my bag, and proceeded at once to verify the itinerary by the
+time-table, while I drank my early coffee in the restaurant upon the
+station platform. I was most anxious to join hands with Tiler, and
+quickly turned over the leaves of my railway guide to see if it was
+possible, and how it might best be managed.
+
+My first idea was to retrace my steps to Basle and follow him by the
+same road. But I soon found that the trains would not fit in the very
+least. He would be travelling by the one fast train in the day, which
+was due at Brieg at four o'clock in the afternoon. My first chance, if
+I caught the very next train back from Lucerne, would only get me to
+Brieg by the eleven o'clock the following morning.
+
+It was not good enough, and I dismissed the idea forthwith. Then I
+remembered that by getting off the St. Gothard railway at Goeschenen I
+should strike the old Furka diligence route by the Devil's Bridge,
+Hospenthal, and the Rhone Glacier, a drive of fifty miles, more or
+less, but at least it would get me to Brieg that same night by 10 or
+11 o'clock.
+
+Before adopting this line I had to consider that there was a risk of
+missing Tiler and his quarry; that is to say, of being too late for
+them; for the lady might decide to push on directly she reached Brieg,
+taking a special carriage extra post as far as the Simplon at least,
+even into Domo Dossola. She was presumably in such a hurry that the
+night journey would hardly deter her from driving over the pass. Tiler
+would certainly follow. By the time I reached Brieg they would be
+halfway across the Alps, and I must take the same road, making a stern
+chase, proverbially the longest.
+
+I turned my attention, therefore, to the Italian end of the carriage
+road, and to seeing how and when I could reach Domo Dossola, the
+alternative suggestion made by Tiler. There would be no difficulty as
+to that, and I found I could be there in good time the same evening. I
+worked it out on the tables and it looked easy enough.
+
+Leave Lucerne by the St. Gothard railway, pass Goeschenen, and go
+through the tunnel down the Italian side as far as Bellizona. Thence a
+branch line would take me to Locarno and into touch with the steamboat
+service on Lake Maggiore. There was a fixed connection according to
+the tables, and I should land at Pallanza within a short hour's drive
+of the line to Domo Dossola. I could be established there by nightfall
+and would command the situation. Every carriage that came down the
+Simplon must come under my eye.
+
+There could be no doubt that the Bellizona-Locarno Lake line was the
+preferable one, and I finally decided in favour of it. I closed my
+Bradshaw with a bang, replaced it in my bag, drank up my coffee, and
+started for the telegraph office. I meant to advise Tiler of my plans,
+and at the same time arrange with him to look out for me just outside
+the terminus station at Domo Dossola, or to communicate with me there
+at the Hotel de la Poste.
+
+On coming out I ran up against the last person I wished to see. It was
+the Colonel, who greeted me with a loud laugh, and gave me a slap on
+the back.
+
+"Halloa, my wily detective," he said mockingly; "settled it all quite
+to your satisfaction? Done with Bradshaw--sent off your wires? Well,
+what's the next move?"
+
+"I decline to hold any conversation with you," I began severely. "I
+beg you will not intrude upon my privacy. I do not desire your
+acquaintance."
+
+"Hoity toity!" he cried. "On your high horse, eh? Aren't you afraid
+you may fall off or get knocked off?" and he raised his hand with an
+ugly gesture.
+
+"We are not alone now in a railway carriage. There are police about,
+and the Swiss police do not approve of brawling," I replied, with all
+the dignity I could assume.
+
+"Come, Falfani, tell me what you mean to do now," he went on in the
+same tone.
+
+"Your questions are an impertinence. I do not know you. I do not
+choose to know you, and I beg you will leave me alone."
+
+"Don't think of it, my fine fellow. I'm not going to leave you alone.
+You may make up your mind to that. Where you go, I go; what you do, I
+shall do. We are inseparables, you and I, as much united as the
+Siamese twins. So I tell you."
+
+"But it's monstrous, it's not to be tolerated. I shall appeal for
+protection to the authorities."
+
+"Do so, my friend, do so. See which will get the best of that. I don't
+want to swagger, but at any rate all the world knows pretty well who I
+am; but what shall you call yourself, Mr. Falfani?"
+
+"I have my credentials from my employers; I have letters,
+testimonials, recommendations from the best people."
+
+"Including the Earl of Blackadder, I presume? I admit your great
+advantages. Well, try it. You may get the best of it in the long run,
+but you'll lose a good deal of time. I'm not in a hurry," he said with
+emphasis, and promptly recalled me to my senses, for I realized that
+I could not fight him that way. It must be by stratagem or evasion. I
+must throw dust in his eyes, put him off the scent, mislead, befool,
+elude him somehow.
+
+How was I to shake him off now I saw that he was determined to stick
+to me? He had said it in so many words. He would not let me out of his
+sight; wherever I went he was coming too.
+
+The time was drawing on for the departure of the St. Gothard express
+at 9.8 A.M., and as yet I had no ticket. I had booked at
+Amiens as far as Lucerne only, leaving further plans as events might
+fall out. Now I desired to go on, but did not see how I was to take a
+fresh ticket without his learning my destination. He would be certain
+to be within earshot when I went up to the window.
+
+I was beginning to despair when I saw Cook's man, who was, as usual,
+hovering about to assist travellers in trouble, and I beckoned him to
+approach.
+
+"See that gentleman," I nodded towards the Colonel. "He wants you; do
+your best for him." And when the tourist agent proceeded on his
+mission to be accosted, I fear rather unceremoniously, I slipped off
+and hid out of sight.
+
+I felt sure I was unobserved as I took my place in the crowd at the
+ticket-window, but when I had asked and paid for my place to Locarno I
+heard, to my disgust, some one else applying for a ticket to exactly
+the same place, and in a voice that was strangely familiar.
+
+On looking round I saw Jules l'Echelle, the sleeping-car conductor,
+but out of uniform, and with an amused grin on his face.
+
+"It seems that we are still to be fellow travellers," he observed
+casually.
+
+"What is taking you to Lake Maggiore? How about your service on the
+car?" I asked suspiciously.
+
+"I have business at Locarno, and have got a few days' leave to attend
+to it."
+
+I felt he was lying to me. He had been bought, I was sure. His
+business was the Colonel's, who had set him to assist in watching me.
+I had two enemies then to encounter, and I realized with some
+misgiving that the Colonel was not a man to be despised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+I secured a place with difficulty; there was rather a rush for the St.
+Gothard express when it ran in. It was composed as usual of corridor
+carriages, all classes _en suite_, and I knew that it would be
+impossible to conceal the fact that I was on board the train. Within
+five minutes Jules had verified the fact and taken seats in the
+immediate neighbourhood, to which he and the Colonel presently came.
+
+"Quite a pleasant little party!" he said in a bantering tone. "All
+bound for Locarno, eh? Ever been to Locarno before, Mr. Falfani?
+Delightful lake, Maggiore. Many excursions, especially by steamer; the
+Borromean islands well worth seeing, and Baveno and Stresa and the
+road to the Simplon."
+
+I refused to be drawn, and only muttered that I hated excursions and
+steamers and lakes, and wished to be left in peace.
+
+"A little out of sorts, I'm afraid, Mr. Falfani. Sad that. Too many
+emotions, want of sleep, perhaps. You _would_ do _too_ much last
+night." He still kept up his hateful babble, and Jules maddened me by
+his sniggering enjoyment of my discomfiture.
+
+More than ever did I set my brain to puzzle out some way of escaping
+this horrible infliction. Was it not possible to give them the slip,
+somehow, somewhere? I took the Colonel's hint, and pretended to take
+refuge in sleep, and at last, I believe, I dozed off. It must have
+been in my dreams that an idea came to me, a simple idea, easy of
+execution with luck and determination.
+
+It was suggested to me by the short tunnels that succeed so frequently
+in the ascent of the St. Gothard Alps. They are, as most people know,
+a chief feature in the mountain railway, and a marvel of engineering
+skill, being cut in circles to give the necessary length and gain the
+height with a moderate gradient. Speed is so far slackened that it
+would be quite possible to drop off the train without injury whenever
+inclined. My only difficulty would be to alight without interference
+from my persecutors.
+
+I nursed my project with eyes shut, still feigning sleep; and my
+extreme quiescence had, as I hoped, the effect of throwing them off
+their guard. Jules, like all in the same employment, was always ready
+for forty winks, and I saw that he was sound and snoring just as we
+entered the last tunnel before reaching the entrance of the final
+great tunnel at Goeschenen. I could not be quite sure of the Colonel,
+but his attitude was that of a man resting, and who had very nearly
+lost himself, if he had not quite gone off.
+
+Now was my time. If it was to be done at all it must be quickly,
+instantaneously almost. Fortunately we sat at the extreme end of a
+coach, in the last places, and besides we three there was only one
+other occupant in the compartment of six. The fourth passenger was
+awake, but I made a bid for his good-will by touching my lips with a
+finger, and the next minute I was gone.
+
+I expected to hear the alarm given at my disappearance, but none
+reached my ears, as the train rattled past me with its twinkling
+lights and noisy road. I held myself close against the side of the
+tunnel in perfect safety, although the hot wind of the passing cars
+fanned my cheek and rather terrified me. The moment the train was well
+gone I faced the glimmering light that showed the entrance to the
+tunnel at the further end from the station, and ran to it with all
+speed.
+
+I knew that my jump from the train could not pass unnoticed, and I
+counted on being followed. I expected that the tunnel would be
+explored by people from Goeschenen so soon as the train ran in and
+reported. My first object, therefore, was to quit the line, and I did
+so directly I was clear of the tunnel. I climbed the fence, dropped
+into a road, left that again to ascend the slope and take shelter
+among the rocks and trees.
+
+The pursuit, if any, was not very keen or long maintained. When all
+was quiet, an hour later I made for the highroad, the famous old road
+that leads through the Devil's Pass to Andermatt, three miles above. I
+altogether avoided the Goeschenen station, fearing any inconvenient
+inquiries, and abandoned all idea of getting the telegram from Tiler
+that might be possibly awaiting me. It did not much matter. I should
+be obliged now to send him fresh news, news of the changed plans that
+took me direct into Brieg; and on entering Andermatt I came upon the
+post-office, just where I wanted it, both to send my message and order
+an extra post carriage from Brieg.
+
+It was with a sense of intense relief that I sank back into the
+cushions and felt that at last I was free. My satisfaction was
+abruptly destroyed. Long before I reached Hospenthal, a mile or so
+from Andermatt, I was disturbed by strange cries to the accompaniment
+of harness bells.
+
+"Yo-icks, Yo-icks, G-o-ne away!" was borne after me with all the force
+of stentorian lungs, and looking round I saw to my horror a second
+carriage coming on at top speed, and beyond all question aiming to
+overtake us. Soon they drew nearer, near enough for speech, and the
+accursed Colonel hailed me.
+
+"Why, you cunning fox, so you broke cover and got away all in a
+moment! Lucky you were seen leaving the train, or we might have
+overrun the scent and gone on."
+
+I did not answer.
+
+"Nice morning for a drive, Mr. Falfani, and a long drive," he went on,
+laughing boisterously. "Going all the way to Brieg by road, I believe?
+So are we. Pity we did not join forces. One carriage would have done
+for all three of us."
+
+Still I did not speak.
+
+"A bit ugly, eh? Don't fuss, man. It's all in the day's work."
+
+With that I desired my driver to pull up, and waved my hand to the
+others, motioning to them that the road was theirs.
+
+But when I stopped they stopped, and the Colonel jeered. When I drove
+on they came along too, laughing. We did this several times; and when
+at the two roads just through Hospenthal, one by the St. Gothard, the
+other leading to the Furka, I took the first for a short distance,
+then turned back, just to try my pursuers. They still stuck to me. My
+heart sank within me. I was in this accursed soldier's claws. He had
+collared me, he was on my back, and I felt that I must throw up the
+sponge.
+
+"I gave you fair notice that you would not get rid of me, and by
+heaven you shall not," he cried fiercely, putting off all at once the
+lighter mockery of his tone. "I know what is taking you to Brieg. You
+think to find your confederate there, and you hope that, combined, the
+two of you will get the better of that lady. You sha'n't, not if I can
+prevent you by any means in my power; understand that, and look out
+for squalls if you try."
+
+I confess he cowed me; he was so strong, so masterful, and, as I
+began to fear, so unscrupulous, that I felt I could not make head
+against him. Certainly not alone. I must have Tiler's help, his
+counsel, countenance, active support. I must get in touch with him at
+the earliest possible moment and my nearest way to him, situated as I
+was now, must be at or through Brieg.
+
+So I resigned myself to my fate, and suffered myself to be driven on
+with my pertinacious escort hanging on to me mile after mile of my
+wearing and interminable journey. We pulled up for luncheon and a
+short rest at the Furka; again in the afternoon at the Rhone Glacier.
+Then we pursued our way all along the valley, with the great snow peak
+of the Matterhorn in front of us, through village and hamlet, in the
+fast fading light, and so on under the dark but luminous sky into
+Munster, Fiesch, and Morel, till at length we rolled into Brieg about
+11 P.M.
+
+I drove straight to the Hotel de la Poste, careless that my tormentors
+were accompanying me; they could do me no more harm, and Tiler was at
+hand to help in vindicating our position.
+
+There was no Tiler at the Hotel de la Poste; no Tiler in Brieg. Only
+a brief telegram from him conveying unwelcome and astounding
+intelligence. It had been despatched from Vevey about 2 P.M.,
+and it said:
+
+  "Lost her somewhere between this and Lausanne. Am trying back. Shall
+   wire you again to Brieg. Wait there or leave address."
+
+My face must have betrayed my abject despair. I was so completely
+knocked over that I offered no opposition when the Colonel impudently
+took the telegram out of my hand and read it coolly.
+
+"Drawn blank!" he cried, unable to contain himself for joy. "By the
+Lord Harry, that's good."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+[_The Statement of the Second Detective_, _Ludovic Tiler_.]
+
+
+I travelled via Ostend, Brussels and Strasburg, and was due at Basle
+from that side at 4.35 A.M. My instructions were to look out
+for Falfani there, and thought I might do so if our train was fairly
+punctual, as it was. We were "on time," and the answer to my first
+question was that the Lucerne express was still at the platform, but
+on the point of departure.
+
+I got one glimpse of Falfani and one word with him. He was in trouble
+himself; they had nipped him, caught him tight, and thrown him off the
+scent. I was now to take up the running.
+
+"You've got your chance now, Ludovic," he said hurriedly, as he leaned
+out of the carriage window. "I'm not jealous, as you often are, but
+it's deuced hard on me. Anyhow, stick to her like wax, and keep your
+eyes skinned. She's got the wiles of the devil, and will sell you like
+a dog if you don't mind. Hurry now; you'll pick her up in the
+waiting-room or restaurant, and can't miss her."
+
+He gave me the description, and I left him, promising him a wire at
+the telegraph office, Lucerne. He was right, there was no mistaking
+her. Few people were about at that time in the morning, and there was
+not a soul among the plain-headed, commonplace Swiss folk to compare
+with her, an English lady with her belongings.
+
+She was quite a beauty, tall, straight, lissom, in her tight-fitting
+ulster; her piquante-looking heather cap perched on chestnut curls,
+and setting off as handsome a face as I have ever seen. And I have
+seen and admired many, for I don't deny that I've a strong penchant
+for pretty women, and this was the pick of the basket. It was rather a
+bore to be put on to her in the way of business; but why should I not
+get a little pleasure out of it if I could? I need not be
+disagreeable; it might help matters and pass the time pleasantly, even
+if in the end I might have to show my teeth.
+
+I saw her looking me over as I walked into the waiting-room,
+curiously, critically, and for a moment I fancied she guessed who I
+was. Had she seen me talking to Falfani?
+
+If so--if she thought me one of her persecutors--she would hardly look
+upon me without repugnance, yet I almost believed it was all the other
+way. I had an idea that she did not altogether dislike me, that she
+was pleased with my personal appearance. Why not? I had had my
+successes in my time, and may say, although it sounds conceited, that
+I had won the approval of other ladies quite as high-toned. By and by
+it might be my unpleasant duty to be disagreeable. In the meantime it
+would be amusing, enjoyable, to make friends.
+
+So far I had still to ascertain the direction in which she was bound.
+She had taken her ticket. That might be safely inferred, for she was
+in the waiting-room with her porter and her bags, ready to pass out
+upon the platform as soon as the doors were opened. (Everyone knows
+that the idiotic and uncomfortable practice still prevails in
+Switzerland of shutting passengers off from the train till the very
+last moment.)
+
+This waiting-room served for many lines, and I could only wait
+patiently to enter the particular train for which she would be
+summoned. When at length an official unlocked the door and announced
+the train for Biel, Neuchatel, Lausanne, and Brieg, she got up to take
+her seat, and I had no longer any doubt as to the direction of her
+journey. So as I saw her go, I slipped back to the ticket-office and
+took my place all the way to Brieg, the furthest point on the line.
+This was obviously my best and safest plan, as I should then be ready
+for anything that happened. I could get out anywhere, wherever she
+did, in fact. After getting my ticket I found time to telegraph to
+Falfani at Lucerne, giving him my latest news, and then proceeded to
+the train.
+
+I found the lady easily enough, and got into the same carriage with
+her. It was one of those on the Swiss plan, with many compartments
+opening into one another _en suite_. Although the seat I chose was at
+a discreet distance, I was able to keep her in view.
+
+I was wondering whether it would be possible for me to break the ice
+and make her acquaintance, when luck served me better than I dared to
+hope. One of the Swiss guards of the train, a surly, overbearing
+brute, like so many others of his class, accosted her rudely, and from
+his gestures was evidently taking her to task as to the number and
+size of her parcels in the net above. He began to shift them, and,
+despite her indignant protests in imperfect German, threw some of them
+on the floor.
+
+This was my opportunity. I hurried to the rescue, and, being fluent in
+German as in several other languages--it is part of my stock in
+trade--I sharply reproved the guard and called him an unmannerly boor
+for his cowardly treatment of an unprotected lady. My reward was a
+sweet smile, and I felt encouraged to hazard a few words in reply to
+her cordial thanks. She responded quickly, readily, and I thought I
+might improve the occasion by politely inquiring if I could be of any
+further service to her.
+
+"Perhaps you can tell me, you see I am strange on this line," she
+answered with a perfectly innocent air, "do you happen to know at what
+time we are due at Lausanne?"
+
+"Not to the minute," I replied. "I have a railway guide in my bag,
+shall I fetch it?"
+
+"No, no, I should not like to give you so much trouble."
+
+"But it will be no trouble. Let me fetch my bag."
+
+I went off in perfect good faith, anxious to oblige so charming a
+lady. I had not the slightest suspicion that she was playing with me.
+Silly ass that I was, I failed to detect the warning that dropped from
+her own lips.
+
+When I got back with the Bradshaw I came upon them for just one moment
+unawares. The maid must have been making some remarks displeasing to
+my lady, who was answering her with much asperity.
+
+"I know what I am doing, Philpotts. Be so good as to leave it to me.
+It is the only way."
+
+Then she caught sight of me as I stood before her, and her manner
+instantly changed. She addressed me very sweetly and with the utmost
+composure. "Oh, how very good of you, I feel quite ashamed of myself."
+
+"Why should you? It is delightful to be of use to you. Lausanne I
+think you said?" I asked casually as I turned over the pages of the
+guide. "You are going to Lausanne?"
+
+"No, Vevey to Montreux. I only wanted to know whether there would be
+time for _dejeuner_ at Lausanne. I think there is no dining-car on
+this train?"
+
+"No, it is on the next, which is extraordinarily bad mismanagement.
+It is a slow train the next, and we are a special express. But you
+will have a clear half-hour to spare at Lausanne. That will be enough,
+I presume? Lausanne at 12 noon, and we go on at half-past."
+
+"You, too, are going beyond Lausanne?"
+
+"Possibly, I am not quite sure. It depends upon my meeting friends
+somewhere on the lake, either there or further on. If they come on
+board we shall run on to Brieg so as to drop over the Alps to Lake
+Maggiore by the Simplon route."
+
+I threw this out carelessly but with deliberate intention, and the
+shot told. A crimson flush came over her face and her hands trembled
+violently. I had not the smallest doubt that this was her plan also.
+She was bound to cross over into Italy, that we knew, or our employers
+firmly believed it, and as she had been driven off the St. Gothard by
+Falfani she had now doubled back by Switzerland to make the journey to
+Brieg and across the mountains by road.
+
+I had scored as I thought, but I forgot that in gaining the knowledge
+I had betrayed my own intentions, and put her upon her guard. I was to
+pay for this.
+
+"Oh, really," she said quietly and with polite interest, having
+entirely recovered her composure. "I dare say a very pleasant drive.
+How long does it take, have you any idea, and how do you travel?"
+
+"It is about nine hours by diligence," I said, consulting the
+Bradshaw, "and the fare is forty francs, but by private carriage or
+extra post a good deal more."
+
+"May I look?" and I handed her the book, "although I never could
+understand Bradshaw," she added pleasantly.
+
+"I shall be very pleased to explain if you are in doubt," I suggested;
+but she declined laughingly, saying it would amuse her to puzzle out
+things, so I left her the book and composed myself into a corner while
+the train rattled on. I mused and dozed and dreamily watched her
+pretty face admiringly, as she pored over the pages of the Guide,
+little thinking she was perfecting a plan for my undoing.
+
+The first stop was at Biel or Bienne, its French name, and there was a
+halt of ten minutes or more. I made my way to the telegraph office in
+the station, where to my great satisfaction I found a message from
+Falfani, informing me that he should make the best of his way to
+Brieg, unless I could suggest something better.
+
+The answer I despatched at once to Goeschenen was worded as follows:
+"Declares she is going to Montreux only. Believe untrue. Still think
+her destination Brieg. Come on there anyhow and await further from me.
+May be necessary to join forces." We were in accord, Falfani and I,
+and in communication.
+
+I was well satisfied with what we were doing, and on receiving the
+second and third telegrams at Neuchatel and Yverdun I was all the more
+pleased. At last we were nearing Lausanne, and I looked across to my
+lady to prepare her for getting out. I had no need to attract her
+attention, for I caught her eyes fixed on me and believe she was
+watching me furtively. The smile that came upon her lips was so
+pleasant and sweet that it might have overjoyed a more conceited man
+than myself.
+
+"Are we near then? Delightful! I never was so hungry in my life," and
+the smile expanded into a gay laugh as she rose to her feet and was
+ready to leave the carriage.
+
+"I'm afraid you will have to wait, Philpotts, we cannot leave that,"
+she pointed to the child nestling sound asleep by her side. "But I
+will send or bring you something. This gentleman will perhaps escort
+me to the refreshment-room."
+
+I agreed, of course, and saying, "Only too charmed," I led the way--a
+long way, for the restaurant is at the far end of the platform. At
+last we sat down _tete-a-tete_ and prepared to do full justice to the
+meal. Strange to say, despite her anticipations, she proved to have
+very little appetite.
+
+"I must have waited too long," she said, as she trifled with a cutlet.
+"I shall perhaps like something else better," and she went carefully
+through the whole _menu_, so that the time slipped away, and we were
+within five minutes of departure.
+
+"And poor dear Philpotts, I had quite forgotten her. Come and help me
+choose," and in duty bound I gallantly carried the food back to the
+train.
+
+I walked ahead briskly, and making my way to the places where we had
+left the maid and child, jumped in.
+
+They were gone, the two of them. Everything was gone, rugs, bags,
+belongings, people. The seats were empty, and as the compartment was
+quite empty, too, no one could tell me when they had left or where
+they had gone.
+
+I turned quickly round to my companion, who was, I thought, following
+close at my heels, and found to my utter amazement that she also had
+disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+For the moment I was dazed and dumfounded, but I took a pull on myself
+quickly. It was a clever plant. Had they sold me completely? That was
+still to be seen. My one chance was in prompt action; I must hunt them
+up, recover trace of them with all possible despatch, follow them, and
+find them wherever they might be.
+
+There was just the chance that they had only moved into another
+carriage, thinking that when I missed them I should get out and hunt
+for them in the station. To counter that I ran up and down the train,
+in and out of the carriages, questing like a hound, searching
+everywhere. So eager was I that I neglected the ordinary warnings that
+the train was about to start; the guard's _fertig_ ("ready"), the
+sounding horn, the answering engine whistle, I overlooked them all,
+and we moved on before I could descend. I made as though to jump off
+hastily, but was prevented.
+
+"_Was ist das? Nein, nein, verboten._" A hand caught me roughly by the
+collar and dragged me back. It was the enemy I had made in championing
+my lady, the guard of the train, who gladly seized the chance of being
+disagreeable to me.
+
+I fought hard to be free, but by the time I had shaken him off the
+speed had so increased that it would have been unsafe to leave the
+train. I had no choice but to go on, harking back as soon as I could.
+Fortunately our first stop was within five and twenty minutes, at
+Vevey; and there in ten minutes more I found a train back to Lausanne,
+so that I had lost less than an hour and a half in all.
+
+But much may happen in that brief space of time. It was more than
+enough for my fugitives to clear out of the Lausanne station and make
+some new move, to hide away in an out-of-the-way spot, go to ground in
+fact, or travel in another direction.
+
+My first business was to inquire in and about the station for a person
+or persons answering to the parties I missed. Had they separated,
+these two women, for good and all? That was most unlikely. If the maid
+had gone off first, I had to consider whether they would not again
+join forces as soon as I was well out of the way. They would surely
+feel safer, happier, together, and this encouraged me to ask first for
+two people, two females, a lady and her servant, one of them, the
+latter, carrying a child.
+
+There were many officials about in uniform, and all alike supercilious
+and indifferent, after the manner of their class, to the travelling
+public, and I could get none to take the smallest interest in my
+affairs. One shrugged his shoulders, another stared at me in insolent
+silence, a third answered me abruptly that he was too occupied to
+bother himself, and a fourth peremptorily ordered me not to hang any
+longer about the station.
+
+Foiled thus by the railway staff--and I desire to place on record here
+my deliberate opinion after many years' experience in many lands, that
+for rudeness and overbearing manners the Swiss functionary has no
+equal in the whole world--I went outside the station and sought
+information among the cabmen and touts who hang about waiting to take
+up travellers. I accosted all the drivers patiently one by one, but
+could gather nothing definite from any of them. Most had been on the
+stand at the arrival of the midday train, many had been engaged to
+convey passengers and baggage up into the town of Lausanne, and had
+deposited their fares at various hotels and private residences, but no
+one had driven any party answering to those of whom I was in search.
+
+This practically decided the point that my lady had not left the
+station in a carriage or openly, if she had walked. But that she had
+not been observed did not dispose of the question. They were dull,
+stupid men, these, only intent on their own business, who would pay
+little attention to humble persons on foot showing no desire to hire a
+cab. I would not be baffled thus soon in my quest. A confidential
+agent who will not take infinite pains in his researches had better
+seek some other line of business. As I stood there in front of the
+great station belonging to the Jura-Simplon, I saw facing me a small
+facade of the Gare Sainte Luce, one of the intermediate stations on
+the _Ficelle_ or cable railway that connects Ouchy on the lake with
+Lausanne above.
+
+It was not a hundred yards distant; it could be easily and quickly
+reached, and without much observation, if a person waited till the
+immediate neighbourhood had been cleared by the general exodus after
+the arrival of the chief express of the day. There were any number of
+trains by this _funiculaire_--at every half-hour indeed--and any one
+taking this route could reach either Lausanne or Ouchy after a very
+few minutes' journey up or down. To extend my investigation on that
+side was of obvious and pressing importance. I was only too conscious
+of my great loss of time, now at the outset, which might efface all
+tracks and cut me off hopelessly from any clue.
+
+I was soon across and inside the Sainte Luce station, but still
+undecided which direction I should choose, when the little car arrived
+going upward, and I ran over to that platform and jumped in. I must
+begin one way or the other, and I proceeded at once to question the
+conductor, when he nicked my ticket, only to draw perfectly blank.
+
+"Have I seen two ladies and a child this morning? But, _grand Dieu_, I
+have seen two thousand. It is _idiote_ to ask such questions,
+monsieur, of a busy man."
+
+"I can pay for what I want," I whispered gently, as I slipped a
+five-franc piece into his hand, ever mindful of the true saying,
+_Point d'argent, point de Suisse_; and the bribe entirely changed his
+tone.
+
+"A lady, handsome, tall, distinguished, _comme il faut_, with a
+companion, a servant, a nurse carrying a child?" He repeated my
+description, adding, "_Parfaitement_, I saw her. She was not one to
+forget quickly."
+
+"And she was going to Lausanne?"
+
+"_Ma foi_, yes, I believe so; or was it to Ouchy?" He seemed
+overwhelmed with sudden doubt. "Lausanne or Ouchy? Up or down? Twenty
+thousand thunders, but I cannot remember, not--" he dropped his
+voice--"not for five francs."
+
+I doubled the dose, and hoped I had now sufficiently stimulated his
+memory or unloosed his tongue. But the rascal was still hesitating
+when we reached the top, and I could get nothing more than that it was
+certainly Lausanne, "if," he added cunningly, "it was not Ouchy." But
+he had seen her, that was sure--seen her that very day upon the line,
+not more than an hour or two before. He had especially admired her;
+_dame_! he had an eye for the _beau sexe_; and yet more he noticed
+that she talked English, of which he knew some words, to her maid. But
+whether she was bound to Lausanne or Ouchy, "_diable_, who could
+say?"
+
+I had got little in return for my ten francs expended on this
+ambiguous news, but now that I found myself actually in Lausanne I
+felt that it behoved me to scour the city for traces of my quarry. She
+might not have come here at all, yet there was an even chance the
+other way, and I should be mad not to follow the threads I held in my
+hand. I resolved to inquire at all the hotels forthwith. It would take
+time and trouble, but it was essential. I must run her to ground if
+possible, fix her once more, or I should never again dare to look my
+employers in the face. I was ashamed to confess to Falfani that I had
+been outwitted and befooled. I would send him no more telegrams until
+I had something more satisfactory to say.
+
+I was now upon the great bridge that spans the valley of the Flon and
+joins the old with the new quarter of Lausanne. The best hotels, the
+Gibbon, Richemont, Falcon, Grand Pont, and several more, stood within
+easy reach, and I soon exhausted this branch of the inquiry. I found a
+_valet de place_ hanging about the Gibbon, whose services I secured,
+and instructed him to complete the investigation, extending it to all
+the minor hotels and pensions, some half-dozen more, reserving to
+myself the terminus by the great station, which I had overlooked when
+leaving for the _Ficelle_ or cable railway. I meant to wait for him
+there to hear his report, but at the same time I took his
+address--Eugene Falloon, Rue Pre Fleuri--where I could give him an
+appointment in case I missed him at the terminus. He was a long, lean,
+hungry-looking fellow, clumsily made, with an enormous head and
+misshapen hands and feet; but he was no fool this Falloon, and his
+local knowledge proved exceedingly useful.
+
+On entering the car for the journey down I came upon the conductor who
+had been of so little use to me, and I was about to upbraid him when
+he disarmed me by volunteering fresh news.
+
+"Ah, but, monsieur, I know much better now. I recollect exactly. The
+lady with her people certainly went down, for I have seen a porter who
+helped her with her effects from the line to the steamboat pier at
+Ouchy."
+
+"And on board the steamer? Going in which direction?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"He shall tell you himself if I can find him when we reach the
+terminus. It may not be easy, but I could do it if--"
+
+Another and a third five-franc piece solved his doubts, and I
+abandoned my visit to the terminus hotel to seize this more tangible
+clue, and proceeded at once to the lake shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+On reaching the steamboat pier I was introduced to the porter, a
+shock-headed, stupid-looking creature, whom I forthwith questioned
+eagerly; but elicited only vague and, I felt sure, misleading replies.
+The conductor assisted at my interview, stimulating and encouraging
+the man to speak, and overdid it, as I thought. I strongly suspected
+that this new evidence had been produced in order to bleed me further.
+Had he really seen this English lady? Would he describe her appearance
+to me, and that of her companion? Was she tall or short? Well dressed,
+handsome, or the reverse? What was her companion like? Tall or short?
+How dressed, and did he suppose her condition to be that of a lady
+like the other, equal in rank, or an inferior?
+
+The answers I got were not encouraging. Ladies? Of course they were
+ladies, both of them. Dressed? In the very latest fashion. They were
+very distinguished people.
+
+"Were they carrying anything, either of them?" I inquired.
+
+"Yes, when I saw them first they had much baggage. It was for that
+they summoned me. Handbags, _sacs de nuit_, rugs, wrappers,
+bonnet-boxes, many things, like all travellers."
+
+"And you noticed nothing big, no parcel for which they were
+particularly concerned?"
+
+"They were anxious about everything, and worried me about everything,
+but about no one thing especially that I can remember."
+
+This did not tally with my own observation and the extreme care taken
+of the child in the woman's arms. I began to believe that my friend
+was a humbug and could tell me nothing of his own knowledge.
+
+"What time was it?" I went on.
+
+"Some hours ago. I did not look at the clock."
+
+"But you know by the steamers that arrive. You men must know which are
+due, and when they pass through."
+
+"Come, come, Antoine," broke in the conductor, determined to give him
+a lead, "you must know that; there are not so many. It would be about
+2 P.M., wouldn't it, when the express boat comes from Vevey and
+Bouveret?"
+
+"Yes, I make no doubt of that," said the man, with a gleam of
+intelligence upon his stolid face.
+
+"And the ladies went on board it, you say? Yes? You are sure?"
+
+"It must have been so; I certainly carried their traps on board."
+
+"Now, are you quite positive it was the two o'clock going that way,
+and not the quarter past two returning from Geneva?" I had my Bradshaw
+handy, and was following the time-table with my fingers.
+
+"The 2.15?" The gleam of light went out entirely from his stolid face.
+"I have an idea you are right, sir. You see the two boats come in so
+near each other and lie at the same pier. I could easily make a
+mistake between them."
+
+"It is my firm belief," I said, utterly disgusted with the fellow, "my
+firm belief that you have made a mistake all through. You never saw
+the ladies at all, either of you." I turned upon the conductor with a
+fierce scowl. "You are a rank humbug; you have taken my money under
+false pretences. I've a precious good mind to report you to your
+superiors, and insist upon your refunding the money. You've swindled
+me out of it, thief and liar that you are."
+
+"Come, come, don't speak so freely. My superiors will always listen
+first to one of their own employes, and it will be awkward if I charge
+you with obstructing an official and making false charges against
+him."
+
+Mine is a hasty temper; I am constrained to confess to a fault which
+often stood in my way especially in my particular business. The
+conductor's insolence irritated me beyond measure, and coming as it
+did on the top of bitter disappointment I was driven into a deplorable
+access of rage, which I shall always regret. Without another word I
+rushed at him, caught him by the throat, and shook him violently,
+throwing him to the ground and beating his head upon it savagely.
+
+Help must have come to him very speedily and to good purpose, for I
+soon found myself in custody, two colossal gendarmes holding me tight
+on each side. I was quickly removed like any malefactor to the lock-up
+in the town above, and was thus for the moment effectively precluded
+from continuing my pursuit.
+
+Law and order are not to be lightly trifled with in Switzerland, least
+of all in the Canton de Vaud. I had been taken in the very act of
+committing a savage assault upon an official in the execution of his
+duty, which is true to the extent that every Swiss official conceives
+it to be his duty to outrage the feelings and tyrannize over
+inoffensive strangers.
+
+The police of Lausanne showed me little consideration. I was not
+permitted to answer the charge against me, but was at once consigned
+to a cell, having been first searched and despoiled of all my
+possessions. Among them was my knife and a pocket revolver I generally
+carried, also my purse, my wallet with all my private papers, and my
+handbag. Both wallet and handbag were locked; they demanded the keys,
+thinking I had them hidden on my person, but I said they could find
+them for themselves, the truth being the locks were on a patent plan
+and could be opened with the fingers by any one who knew. This secret
+I chose to retain.
+
+When alone in my gloomy prison, with leisure to reflect more calmly on
+my painful position, I realized what an ass I had been, and I vented
+my wrath chiefly on myself. But it was idle to repine. My object now
+was to go free again at the earliest possible moment, and I cast about
+to see how I might best compass it.
+
+At first I was very humble, very apologetic. I acknowledged my error,
+and promised to do anything in my power to indemnify my victim. I
+offered him any money in reason, I would pay any sum they might fix,
+pay down on the nail and give my bond for the rest.
+
+My gaolers scouted the proposal indignantly. Did I think justice was
+to be bought in Switzerland? It was the law I had outraged, not an
+individual merely. Besides--money is all powerful in this venal
+country--how could I pay, a poor devil like me, the necessary price?
+what could I produce in cash on the nail? My bond would not be worth
+the paper it was written on.
+
+No, no, there was no chance for me; nothing could save me. I must go
+before the correctional police and pay in person for my offence. I
+might expect to be punished summarily, to be sent to gaol, to be laid
+by the heels for a month or two, perhaps more. Such a brutal assault
+as mine would be avenged handsomely.
+
+Now I changed my tactics. I began to bluster. I was a British subject
+and claimed to be treated with proper respect. I appealed to the
+British Consul; I insisted upon seeing him. When they laughed at me,
+saying that he would not interfere with the course of justice on
+behalf of such an unknown vagabond, I told them roundly that I was
+travelling under the special protection of the British Minister for
+Foreign Affairs, the illustrious Marquis of Lansdowne. Let them bring
+me my wallet. I would show them my passport bearing the Royal Arms and
+the signature of one of H.M. Secretaries of State. All of us in the
+employ of Messrs. Becke invariably carried Foreign Office passports as
+the best credentials we could produce if we were caught in any tight
+place.
+
+The greeting of so great a personage to his trusty and well beloved
+Ludovic Tiler had a very marked effect upon my captors. It was
+enhanced by the sight of a parcel of crisp Bank of England notes lying
+snugly in the pocket of the wallet, which I had opened, but without
+betraying the secret of the spring. When I extracted a couple of
+fivers and handed them to the chief gaoler, begging him to do the best
+for my comfort, the situation changed considerably, but no hopes were
+held out for my immediate release. I was promised dinner from a
+restaurant hard by, and was permitted to send a brief telegram to
+Falfani, to the effect that I was detained at Lausanne by unforeseen
+circumstances, but no more. Then bedding was brought in, on which,
+after a night in the train, I managed to sleep soundly enough until
+quite late next morning.
+
+I had summoned Eugene Falloon to my assistance, and he was permitted
+to visit me quite early, soon after the prison had opened. He was
+prompt and practical, and proceeded to perform the commissions I gave
+him with all despatch. I charged him first to telegraph to England, to
+our office, briefly stating my quandary, begging them to commend me to
+some one in Lausanne or Geneva, for Becke's have friends and
+correspondents in every city of the world. He was then to call upon
+the British Consul, producing my passport in proof of my claim upon
+him as a British subject in distress, and if necessary secure me legal
+advice. I had been warned that I might expect to be examined that very
+day, but that several were likely to elapse before the final disposal
+of my case.
+
+All that forenoon, and quite late into the next day, I was left
+brooding and chafing at my misfortune, self-inflicted I will confess,
+but not the less irksome to bear. I had almost persuaded myself that I
+should be left to languish here quite friendless and forgotten, when
+the luck turned suddenly, and daylight broke in to disperse my gloomy
+forebodings. Several visitors came, claiming to see me, and were
+presently admitted in turn. First came the Consul, and with him an
+intelligent Swiss advocate, who declared he would soon put matters
+right. It would only be a question of a fine, and binding me over to
+good behaviour on bail. Could I find bail? That was the only question.
+And while we still discussed it we found amongst the callers a
+respectable and well-to-do watchmaker from Geneva, who had been
+entreated (no doubt from Becke's) to do all that was needful on my
+behalf. I might be of good cheer; there was no reasonable doubt but
+that I should be released, but hardly before next day.
+
+A second night in durance was not much to my taste, but I bore it with
+as much resignation as I could command; and when next morning I
+appeared before the Court, I paid my fine of one hundred francs with
+hearty good-will. I assured my bail, the friendly watchmaker, that he
+need not have the smallest fear I should again commit myself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+My spirits rose with my release, but there was still more than freedom
+to encourage my light-heartedness. I heard now and definitely of my
+fugitive lady. Falloon had come upon undoubted evidence that she had
+never left the great Jura-Simplon station, but had remained quietly
+out of sight in the "ladies' waiting-room" until the next train left
+for Geneva. This was at 1.35 P.M., and she must have slipped away
+right under my eyes into the very train which had brought me back from
+Vevey. So near are the chances encountered in such a profession as
+ours.
+
+Falloon had only ascertained this positively on the second day of my
+detention, but with it the information that only two first-class
+tickets, both for Geneva, had been issued by that train. To make it
+all sure he had taken the precaution to ask at all the stations along
+the line at which the train had stopped, seven in number, and had
+learned that no persons answering to my ladies had alighted at any of
+them. So my search was carried now to Geneva, and it might be possible
+to come upon my people there, although I was not oversanguine. I knew
+something of the place. I had been there more than once, had stayed
+some time, and I knew too well that it is a city with many issues,
+many facilities for travelling, and, as they had so much reason for
+moving on rapidly, the chances were that they would have already
+escaped me.
+
+However, with Falloon I proceeded to Geneva without delay, and began a
+systematic search. We made exhaustive inquiries at the Cornavin
+station, where we arrived from Lausanne, and heard something.
+
+The party had certainly been seen at this very station. Two ladies,
+one tall, the other short, with a baby. They had gone no further then;
+they had not returned to the station since. So far good. But there was
+a second station, the Gare des Vollondes, at the opposite end of the
+city, from which ran the short line to Bouveret on the south shore of
+the lake, and I sent Falloon there to inquire, giving him a rendezvous
+an hour later at the Cafe de la Couronne on the Quai du Lac. Meanwhile
+I meant to take all the hotels in regular order, and began with those
+of the first class on the right bank, the Beau Rivage, the Russie, de
+la Paix, National, Des Bergues, and the rest. As I drew blank
+everywhere I proceeded to try the hotels on the left bank, and made
+for the Pont de Mont Blanc to cross the Rhone, pointing for the
+Metropole.
+
+Now my luck again greatly favoured me. Just as I put my foot upon the
+bridge I saw a figure approaching me, coming from the opposite
+direction.
+
+I recognized it instantly. It was the lady herself.
+
+She must have seen me at the very same moment, for she halted dead
+with the abruptness of one faced with a sudden danger, an opened
+precipice, or a venomous snake under foot. She looked hurriedly to
+right and left, as if seeking some loophole of escape.
+
+At that moment one of the many electric trams that overspread Geneva
+with a network of lines came swinging down the Rue de Mont Blanc from
+the Cornavin station, and slackened speed at the end of the bridge. My
+lady made up her mind then and there, and as it paused she boarded it
+with one quick, agile spring.
+
+With no less prompt decision I followed her, and we entered the car
+almost simultaneously.
+
+There were only two seats vacant and, curiously enough, face to face.
+I took my place, not ill pleased, for she had already seen me, and I
+was anxious to know how my sudden reappearance would affect her. It
+was clear she did not relish it, or she would not have turned tail at
+our unexpected meeting.
+
+I had not long to wait. She chose her line at once, and without
+hesitation addressed me, smiling and unabashed. Her self-possession, I
+had almost said her effrontery, took me quite aback.
+
+"Surely I am not mistaken?" she began quite coolly. "Have I not to
+thank you for your courtesy in the train a couple of days ago?"
+
+I stammered a halting affirmative.
+
+"I am afraid you must have thought me very rude. I ran off without a
+word, didn't I? The truth was my child had been suddenly taken ill and
+the nurse had to leave the train hurriedly. She had only just time to
+catch me and prevent me from going on. I am sorry. I should have liked
+to say good-bye."
+
+"Make no apologies, I beg," I hastened to say courteously. But in my
+heart I trembled. What could this mean? Some fresh trick? She was so
+desperately full of guile!
+
+"But I thought you were bound for the other end of the lake," she
+continued. "Do you make a long stay at Geneva?"
+
+"No. Do you?" I retorted.
+
+"Probably. I begin to like the place, and I have found very
+comfortable quarters at the Hotel Cornavin, near the station. You may
+know it."
+
+Could this be really so? Her perfect frankness amazed me. I could not
+credit it, much less understand it. There was surely some pitfall,
+some trap concealed for my abounding credulity.
+
+"I also propose to stay some days, but am not yet established." I made
+so bold as to suggest that I had a great mind to try her Hotel
+Cornavin.
+
+"Why not?" she replied heartily. "The accommodation is good, nice
+rooms, civil people, decent _cuisine_. It might suit you."
+
+She could not possibly have been more civil and gracious. Too civil by
+half, a more cautious man might have told himself.
+
+The tram-car by this time had run through the Place Molard, the
+Allemand Marche, and was turning into the Rue de la Corraterie,
+pointing upward for the theatre and the Promenade des Bastions. Where
+was my involuntary companion bound?
+
+She settled the question by getting out at the Place Neuve with a few
+parting words.
+
+"I have a call to make near here. I had forgotten it. Perhaps I may
+hope to see you again. Do try the Cornavin. If so, _sans adieu_."
+
+Was it good enough? I could not allow her to slip through my fingers
+like this. What if her whole story was untrue, what if there was no
+Hotel Cornavin, and no such guests there? I could not afford to let
+her out of my sight, and with one spring I also left the car and,
+catching a last glimpse of her retreating skirts, gave chase.
+
+I cannot say whether she realized that I was following, but she led me
+a pretty dance. In and out, and round and round, by narrow streets and
+dark passages, backwards and forwards, as adroitly as any practised
+thief eluding the hot pursuit of the police. At last she paused and
+looked back, and thinking she had shaken me off (for knowing the game
+well I had hastily effaced myself in a doorway) plunged into the
+entrance of a small unpretending hotel in a quiet, retired square--the
+Hotel Pierre Fatio, certainly not the Cornavin.
+
+The door in which I had taken shelter was that of a dark third-rate
+cafe well suited to my purpose, and well placed, for I was in full
+view of the Hotel Pierre Fatio, which I was resolved to watch at least
+until my lady came out again. As I slowly absorbed an absinthe,
+revolving events past and to come, I thought it would be well to draw
+Falloon to me. It was past the hour for our meeting.
+
+I scribbled three lines of a note and despatched it to the Cafe de la
+Couronne by a messenger to whom I fully described my colleague's
+appearance, desiring him to show the addressed envelope before
+delivery, but having no doubt that it would reach its destination.
+
+Presently Falloon joined me, and as my lady had as yet made no sign, I
+bade him continue the watch, while I left the cafe openly and
+ostentatiously, so that it might be seen by any one curious to know
+that I had given up the game.
+
+Far from it. I designed only to try the Hotel Cornavin to ascertain
+the real facts; and if, as I shrewdly suspected, I had been fooled,
+to return forthwith and rejoin Falloon at the true point of interest,
+taking such further steps as might seem desirable. I was chiefly
+anxious to regain touch and combine forces with Falfani.
+
+There was no mistake, however, at the Cornavin Hotel. I had not been
+fooled. I was told directly I asked at the bureau that a Mrs. Blair,
+accompanied by her maid and child, was staying in the house. Could I
+see her? If monsieur would send up his card, it should be given her on
+her return. She was not at home for the moment. (I knew that.) Would
+monsieur call again?
+
+I was slow to congratulate myself on what seemed a point gained, for I
+had still my misgivings, but I would make the most of the chances that
+offered to my hand. I secured a room at the Cornavin Hotel, and
+bespoke another for Falfani, whom I should now summon at once. With
+this idea I took the earliest opportunity of telegraphing to him as
+follows:
+
+     "Detained by unfortunate _contretemps_ at Lausanne, happily
+     surmounted, clue lost and regained. Desire your
+     cooeperation. Come instantly, Hotel Cornavin. She is here.
+
+     "LUDOVIC."
+
+I noted the time of despatch, 4.17 P.M. It would surely reach
+Falfani before the last train left Brieg coming my way, and I hardly
+trusted myself to anticipate the comfort and relief his appearance
+would bring me. Combined we could tie ourselves to our quarry, and
+never let her out of sight until our principals could take over and
+settle the business.
+
+Then hailing a cab, I drove to a point close by where I had left
+Falloon, and found the situation entirely unchanged. No one had come
+out of the Hotel Pierre Fatio. Mrs. Blair was paying a very long call,
+and I could not understand it. All the time I was haunted with a vague
+and ever present idea that she meant to sell me. The more I tortured
+my brain to consider how, the less I was able to fathom her
+intentions.
+
+The time ran on, and I thought it would be prudent to return to my own
+hotel. Mrs. Blair might have given us the slip, might have left by
+some other issue, and I felt that my place was at the Cornavin, where
+at least I knew she was staying. Falloon should stand his ground
+where he was, but I fully impressed upon him the importance of the
+duty entrusted to him.
+
+I blessed my stars that I so decided. Mrs. Blair had not returned when
+the _table d'hote_ bell rang at the Cornavin, but I had hardly
+swallowed the first spoonful of soup when Falloon appeared, hot and
+flurried, with very startling news.
+
+"_Elle se sauve._ She is saving herself; she is running away," he
+cried. "Already her carriage enters the station--without doubt she
+seeks the train for somewhere."
+
+I jumped up, rushed from the room, caught up my hat, and hurried
+across the Square of Place Cornavin into the station. It was a clear
+case of bolt. There she was ahead of me, quite unmistakable, walking
+quickly, with her fine upright figure clad in the same pearl gray
+ulster she had worn in the tram-car. She passed through the open doors
+of the waiting-room on to the platform where the train was waiting
+with engine attached.
+
+"The 7.35 for Culoz and beyond by Amberieu to Paris," I was informed
+on inquiry.
+
+"A double back," I concluded on the spot. She had had enough of it,
+and was going home again. In another minute or two she would have
+eluded me once more.
+
+My only chance now lay in prompt action. I, too, must travel by this
+train. To secure a ticket and board it was soon done. I chose a
+carriage at no great distance from that she had entered; a through
+carriage to Macon, and which I was resolved to watch closely, but yet
+I did not mean to show myself to its occupants if it could be helped.
+
+As we were on the point of starting, I scribbled a few lines on a leaf
+torn from my pocket-book to inform Falfani of my hasty departure and
+the reason for it. This I folded carefully and addressed to him,
+entrusting it to Falloon, who was to seek out my colleague at the
+Hotel Cornavin after the arrival of the late train from Brieg, and
+deliver it. At the same time I handed Falloon a substantial fee, but
+desired him to offer his services to Falfani.
+
+I saw no more of the lady. She did not show at Bellegarde when the
+French Customs' examination took place, nor yet at Culoz, and I
+believed she was now committed to the journey northward. But as I was
+dozing in my place and the train slowed on entering Amberieu, the
+guard whom I had suborned came to me with a hurried call.
+
+"Monsieur, monsieur, you must be quick. Madame has descended and is
+just leaving the station. No doubt for the Hotel de France, just
+opposite."
+
+There she was indeed with all her belongings. (How well I knew them by
+this time!) The maid with her child in arms, the porter with the light
+baggage.
+
+I quickened my pace and entered the hotel almost simultaneously with
+her. Ranging up alongside I said, not without exultation:
+
+"Geneva was not so much to your taste, then? You have left rather
+abruptly."
+
+"To whom are you speaking, sir?" she replied in a stiff, strange
+voice, assumed, I felt sure, for the occasion. She was so closely
+veiled that I could not see her face, but it was the same figure, the
+same costume, the same air. Lady Blackadder that was, Mrs. Blair as
+she now chose to call herself, I could have sworn to her among a
+thousand.
+
+"It won't do, madame," I insisted. "I'm not to be put off. I know all
+about it, and I've got you tight, and I'm not going to leave go again.
+No fear." I meant to spend the night on guard, watching and waiting
+till I was relieved by the arrival of the others, to whom I
+telegraphed without delay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+[_Colonel Annesley resumes._]
+
+
+I left my narrative at the moment when I had promised my help to the
+lady I found in such distress in the Engadine express. I promised it
+unconditionally, and although there were circumstances in her case to
+engender suspicion, I resolutely ignored them. It was her secret, and
+I was bound to respect it, content to await the explanation I felt
+sure she could make when so minded.
+
+It was at dinner in the dining-car, under the eyes of her persecutor,
+that we arranged to give him the slip at Basle. It was cleverly
+accomplished, I think.
+
+[_Here the Colonel gives an account of all that happened between Basle
+and Brieg; and as the incidents have been already described by Falfani
+it is unnecessary to retell them, except to note that Annesley had
+quickly discovered the detective's escape outside Goeschenen and lost
+no time in giving chase._]
+
+As may be supposed I rejoiced greatly on reaching Brieg to find that
+Falfani had been bitterly disappointed. It was plain from the telegram
+that was handed to him on arrival, and which so upset him that he
+suffered me to take it out of his hand and to read it for myself, that
+a friend, his colleague, no doubt, had been checked summarily at
+Lausanne. He said he had lost "her," the lady of course.
+
+I was not altogether happy in my mind about her, for when we had
+parted at Brieg it had been settled that she should take the Simplon
+route through this very place Brieg, at which I now found myself so
+unexpectedly, and I ought to have come upon her or had news of her
+somewhere had her plans been carried out. She certainly had not
+reached Brieg, for with my ally l'Echelle we searched the town for
+news of her that night and again next morning.
+
+The situation was embarrassing. I could decide upon no clear course
+but that of holding on to Falfani and clinging to him with the very
+skin of my teeth; any light must come from or through him, or at least
+by keeping him in full view I might prevent him from doing any more
+mischief.
+
+One of us, l'Echelle or myself, continually watched him all that day,
+the third of this curious imbroglio into which I was plunged. At night
+I took the strong and unjustifiable measure of locking him into his
+room.
+
+When he discovered it next morning he was furious, and came straight
+at me open-mouthed.
+
+"I'll appeal to the law, I'll denounce you to the authorities, I'll
+charge you with persecution and with false imprisonment. You shall be
+arrested. I'll be rid of you somehow, you shall not stay here, you
+shall leave Brieg."
+
+"With all my heart--when you do. Have I not told you that already?
+Where you go I go, where you stay I stay."
+
+"But it is most monstrous and abominable. I will not submit to it. You
+have no sort of right to act in this way. Why is it?"
+
+"You can guess my reasons, surely. Only it is not for your _beaux
+yeux_; not because I like you. I loathe and detest you. You are a low,
+slimy spy, who richly deserves to be thrashed for bullying a lady."
+
+"I'll have you to know, sir, that I am fully entitled to act as I am
+doing," he said with a consequential air. "I am the representative of
+a court of law; I have great people at my back, people who will soon
+bring you to book. Wait a little, we shall see. You'll sing a very
+poor song when you have to do with a nobleman. The Right Honourable
+the Earl of Blackadder will arrive shortly. I hope this very
+afternoon. You can settle it with him, ah! How do you like that, eh?"
+
+I laughed him to scorn.
+
+"Psha, man, you're an ass. I've told you before now what I think of
+Lord Blackadder, and if it be necessary I'll tell him to his face when
+he gets here."
+
+This conversation took place just before the _table-d'hote_ luncheon,
+and immediately afterwards Falfani went out in the direction of the
+railway station. I followed, keeping him in sight on the platform,
+where, by and by, I saw him, hat in hand, bowing obsequiously before a
+passenger who alighted from the incoming train. It would have been
+enough for me had I not already known Lord Blackadder by sight. They
+walked back together to the hotel, and so, at a certain distance, did
+I.
+
+I was lounging about outside the house, wondering what would happen
+next, when a waiter came out to me bearing a card, which he tendered,
+bowing low, more in deference to the card, as I thought, than to me.
+
+"Earl of Blackadder" was the name engraved, and written just below in
+pencil were the words, "would like to speak to Colonel Annesley at
+once."
+
+"Well, I've no objection," I began, stiffly. I thought the summons a
+trifle too peremptory. "Where is he?"
+
+The waiter pointed back to the hotel, and I saw a white, evil face
+glowering at me from a window on the ground floor of the hotel. The
+very look on it stirred my bile. It was an assumption of superiority,
+of concentrated pride and exaggerated authority, as though everyone
+must yield to his lightest wish and humble himself in the dust before
+him. I resented this, and slipping the card carelessly in my pocket, I
+nodded to the waiter, who still stood awaiting my reply.
+
+"Will monsieur come?" he asked.
+
+"No. Tell his lordship he will find me here if he wants me. That will
+do," and I waved him off.
+
+Soon afterwards Lord Blackadder came out. Mahomet came to the
+mountain. I liked his face less than ever. It wore an angry scowl
+now; his dark eyes glittered balefully under the close-knit eyebrows,
+his lips were drawn down, and the curved nose was like the aggressive
+beak of a bird of prey.
+
+"Colonel Annesley, I understand," he said coldly, contemptuously, just
+lifting one finger towards the brim of his hat.
+
+"That is my name," I responded, without returning the salute.
+
+"I am Lord Blackadder; you will have had my card. I desired to address
+you somewhat more privately than this." He looked round the open yard
+in front of the hotel. "May I hope you will accompany me to my rooms?
+I have to speak to you on a matter that concerns you very closely."
+
+"That I cannot admit. There can be nothing between you and me, Lord
+Blackadder, that concerns me very closely; nothing that the whole
+world may not hear."
+
+"What I have to say might prove very unpleasant to you in the telling,
+Colonel Annesley. You would be well advised in agreeing that our
+interview should be private."
+
+"I can't see it, and I must tell you plainly that I do not care one
+jot. Say what you please, my lord, and, if you like, as loud as you
+please, only be quick about it."
+
+"With all my heart, then, if you will have it so. I wish to tell you,
+Colonel Annesley, that you have taken a most unwarrantable liberty in
+mixing yourself up with my affairs."
+
+"I am not aware that I have done so."
+
+"You shall not trifle with me, sir. Your conduct is inexcusable,
+ungentlemanlike."
+
+"Take care, my lord," I broke in hotly.
+
+"People who forget themselves so far as you have done must accept the
+responsibility of their own actions; and I tell you, here and now,
+that I shall call you to strict account for yours."
+
+The man was trying me hard, but still I strove to keep my temper.
+
+"I don't care that for your opinion, and I do not allow that you are a
+judge of what is gentlemanlike. No one would do so who had read the
+public prints lately."
+
+"How dare you, sir, refer to my conduct, or presume to criticize or
+question it?" he burst out.
+
+"Ta, ta, ta! It is a real pleasure to me to tell you what I think of
+you, Lord Blackadder; and as I am ready to give you every
+satisfaction, I shall not stint myself."
+
+"I insist upon satisfaction."
+
+"By all means. It can be easily arranged. We are within a short step
+of either France or Italy, and in both countries the old-fashioned
+plan of settling affairs of honour is still in force. We shall find
+friendly seconds in the nearest garrison town, and I shall be glad to
+cross the frontier with you whenever you please."
+
+"You talk like the hectoring, swashbuckling bully that you are," he
+cried angrily, but looking rather uncomfortable.... "I will swear the
+peace against you."
+
+"Do so by all means. It would be like you. A man who would descend to
+espionage, who could so cruelly misuse a lady, is capable of anything;
+of making assertions he cannot substantiate, of threatening things he
+dare not do."
+
+"I have the clearest proof of what I say. You have chosen to come into
+my life--"
+
+"I should be extremely sorry to do so."
+
+"Will you deny that you have sided with my enemies, that you have
+joined and abetted them in a base plot to defraud and rob me of
+my--my--property, of that which I most highly value and cherish of
+all my possessions?"
+
+"I don't know what you are talking about, Lord Blackadder, but
+whatever your grievance I tell you candidly that I do not like your
+tone or your manner, and I shall hold no further converse with you."
+
+I turned my back on him and walked away.
+
+"Stay, stay. You must and shall hear me out. I've not done with you."
+He came hurrying after me, following close and raising his voice
+higher and higher. "Your very presence here is an offence. You have no
+right to be here at all."
+
+"Do you think that you own all Switzerland, my noble earl?" I answered
+over my shoulder as I walked on. "It is not your ground to warn me
+off."
+
+"I tell you you shall not remain here to annoy me and work against me.
+I forbid it, and I will put a stop to it. I give you plain warning."
+
+"You know you are talking nonsense. I shall go my own road, and I defy
+you to do your worst."
+
+Here, when I was on the threshold of the hotel, I met Falfani full,
+as he came running out excitedly, holding in his hand the telltale
+blue envelope, which, with his elated air, indicated clearly that he
+had just received important news.
+
+I paused for a moment, hoping he might commit himself, and was
+rewarded by hearing him say aloud:
+
+"It is from Geneva, my lord, from Ludovic Tiler," he began
+indiscreetly, and was angrily silenced by my lord, who called him "a
+triple-dyed idiot," and with a significant gesture towards me bade him
+walk away to some distance from the hotel.
+
+The mischief was done, however, for I had of course heard enough to
+know that the other detective had given signs of life at last, and
+that the report, to judge by Falfani's glee, must be satisfactory. The
+more pleased the other side, the more reason to fear that matters were
+adverse on ours.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+It might be thought that I was too hard on my Lord Blackadder, but
+only those few indeed who were unacquainted with the circumstances of
+his divorce would find fault with me. The scandal was quite recent,
+and the Blackadder case had been in everybody's mouth. The papers had
+been full of it, and the proceedings were not altogether to his
+lordship's credit. They had been instituted by him, however, on
+grounds that induced the jury to give him a verdict, and the judge had
+pronounced a decree nisi on the evidence as it stood.
+
+Yet the public sympathies were generally with the respondent, the
+Countess of Blackadder. It had been an unhappy marriage, an
+ill-assorted match, mercenary, of mere convenience, forced upon an
+innocent and rather weak girl by careless and callous guardians, eager
+to rid themselves of responsibility for the two twin sisters, Ladies
+Claire and Henriette Standish, orphans, and with no near relations.
+
+Lord Blackadder was immensely rich, but a man of indifferent moral
+character, a _roue_ and a voluptuary, with a debilitated constitution
+and an unattractive person, possessing none of the gifts that take a
+maiden's fancy.
+
+Estrangement soon followed the birth of the son and heir to his title
+and great estates. My lord was a great deal older than his beautiful
+young wife, and desperately jealous of her. Distrust grew into strong
+suspicion, and presently consumed him when an old flame of Lady
+Henriette's, Charlie Forrester, of the Dark Horse, turned up from
+foreign service, and their names came to be bracketed together by the
+senseless gossiping busybodies ever ready to tear a pretty woman's
+reputation to tatters. It was so much put about, so constantly dinned
+into Lord Blackadder's ears, that he was goaded into a perfect fury,
+and was at length determined, by hook or by crook, to put away his
+wife, leaving it to certain astute and well-practised solicitors to
+manufacture a clear, solid case against her.
+
+Lady Blackadder, who hated and despised her lord, foolishly played
+into his hands. She never really went wrong, so her friends stoutly
+averred, especially her sister Claire, a staunch and loyal soul, but
+she gave a handle to innuendo, and more than once allowed appearances
+to go against her.
+
+There was one very awkward story that could not be disproved as it was
+told, and in the upshot convicted her. It was clearly shown in
+evidence that she had made up her mind to leave Lord Blackadder; more,
+that she meant to elope with Major Forrester. It was said, but not so
+positively, that she had met him at Victoria Station; they were seen
+there together, had travelled by the same train, and there was a
+strong presumption that they had arrived together at Brighton; one or
+two railway officials deposed to the fact.
+
+Lady Blackadder denied this entirely, and gave a very different
+complexion to the story. She had gone to Brighton; yes, but quite
+alone. Major Forrester had seen her off, no doubt, but they had parted
+at the carriage door. Her visit to Brighton had been for the purpose
+of seeing and staying with an old servant, once a very confidential
+maid for whom she had a great liking, and had often taken refuge with
+when worried and in trouble. She thought, perhaps, to make this the
+first stage in the rupture with my lord.
+
+This maid had earnestly adjured her not to break with her husband, and
+to return to Grosvenor Square.
+
+This flight was the head and corner-stone of Lady Blackadder's
+offending. It was interpreted into guilt of the most heinous kind; the
+evidence in support of it seemed overwhelming. Witnesses swore
+positively to the companionship of Major Forrester, both at Victoria
+and Brighton, and it was to be fairly assumed that they were at the
+latter place together.
+
+No rebutting evidence was forthcoming. The maid, a woman married to an
+ex-French or Swiss courier, by name Bruel, could not be produced,
+simply because she could not be found in Brighton. They were supposed
+to be settled there as lodging-house keepers, but they had not resided
+long enough to be in the Directory, and their address was not known.
+Lord Blackadder's case was that they were pure myths, they had never
+had any tangible existence, but were only imported into the case to
+support an ingenious but untenable defence.
+
+It was more than hinted that they had been spirited away, and they
+were not the first material witnesses, it was hinted, in an intricate
+case, conducted by Messrs. Gadecker and Gobye, who had mysteriously
+disappeared. So the plausible, nay, completely satisfactory
+explanation of Lady Blackadder's visit to Brighton could not be put
+forward, much less established, and there was no sort of hope for her.
+She lost her case in the absence of the Bruels, man and wife. The
+verdict was for Lord Blackadder, and he was adjudged to have the care
+and custody of the child, the infant Viscount Aspdale.
+
+I had not the smallest doubt when I realized with whom I had to do
+that the unhappy mother had made a desperate effort to redress her
+wrongs, as she thought them, and had somehow contrived to carry off
+her baby before she could be deprived of it.
+
+I had met her in full flight upon the Engadine express.
+
+What next? Was she to be overtaken and despoiled, legally, of course,
+but still cruelly, separated from her own flesh and blood? The Court
+might order such an unnatural proceeding, but I was moved by every
+chivalrous impulse to give her my unstinting and unhesitating support
+to counteract it.
+
+I was full of these thoughts, and still firmly resolved to help Lady
+Blackadder, when l'Echelle, the conductor whose services I still
+retained, sought me out hurriedly, and told me that he believed the
+others were on the point of leaving Brieg.
+
+"I saw Falfani and milord poring over the pages of the _Indicateur_,
+and heard the word Geneva dropped in a whisper. I think they mean to
+take the next train along the lake shore."
+
+"Not a doubt of it," I assented; "so will we. They must not be allowed
+to go beyond our reach."
+
+When the 6.57 P.M. for Geneva was due out from Brieg, we,
+l'Echelle and I, appeared on the platform, and our intention to travel
+by it was made plain to Lord Blackadder. The effect upon him was
+painfully manifest at once. He chafed, he raged up and down, grimacing
+and apostrophizing Falfani; once or twice he approached me with
+clenched fists, and I really thought would have struck me at last.
+Seeing me enter the same carriage with him, with the obvious intention
+of keeping him under my eye, he threw himself back among the cushions
+and yielded himself with the worst grace to the inevitable.
+
+The railway journey was horribly slow, and it must have been past 11
+P.M. before we reached Geneva. We alighted in the Cornavin
+station, and as they moved at once towards the exit I followed. I
+expected them to take a carriage and drive off, and was prepared to
+give chase, when I found they started on foot, evidently to some
+destination close at hand. It proved to be the Cornavin Hotel, not a
+stone's-throw from the station.
+
+They entered, and went straight to the bureau, where the night clerk
+was at his desk. I heard them ask for a person named Tiler, and
+without consulting his books the clerk replied angrily:
+
+"Tiler! Tiler! _Ma foi_, he is of no account, your Tiler. He has gone
+off from the dinner-table and without paying his bill."
+
+"That shall be made all right," replied Lord Blackadder loftily, as he
+detailed his name and quality, before which the employe bowed low.
+"And might I ask," his lordship went on, "whether a certain Mrs.
+Blair, a lady with her child and its nurse, is staying in the hotel?"
+
+"But certainly, milord. They have been here some days. Salon and suite
+No. 17."
+
+"At any rate, that's well, Falfani," said Lord Blackadder, with a sigh
+of satisfaction. "But what of your friend Tiler? Thick-headed dolt,
+unable to keep awake, I suppose."
+
+At that moment a shabbily dressed person approached Falfani, touched
+his hat, and offered him a note, saying:
+
+"This must be for you, monsieur. I heard your name--"
+
+"From Tiler, my lord, aha! This explains." And he passed the scrap of
+paper on to his employer.
+
+"I'll be hanged if I see it! He says the parties have gone, and that
+he is in close attendance; yet this fellow here," pointing to the
+clerk, "assures us she is in this very house. I don't understand it,
+by Gad!"
+
+"There is some fresh trick, my lord, you may be sure. The devil
+himself isn't half so clever as this fine lady. But we'll get at the
+bottom of it. We shall hear more from Tiler, and we've got the lady
+here, under our hand."
+
+"Ah! but have we? This chap's as likely as not to be mistaken. How do
+you know, sir," to the clerk, "that Mrs. Blair is still in the hotel?
+When did you come on duty? What if she left without your knowing it?"
+
+"It could not be, milord. See, it is marked in the register. No. 17 is
+occupied. I could not let it. Mrs. Blair holds it still."
+
+"But she may not be in it, all the same. Can't you see? She may retain
+it, but not use it."
+
+"Look, my lord, look, there's one of her party, anyway," interposed
+Falfani, and he called his attention to a female figure standing a
+little aloof in the shadow of the staircase, and which I had already
+recognized.
+
+It was Philpotts, "Mrs. Blair's" maid, and she was trying to attract
+my attention. Lord Blackadder had not seen her, and now his eye, for
+the first time, fell upon me. He turned on me furiously.
+
+"You! You! Still at my heels? This is perfectly monstrous. It amounts
+to persecution. You still dare to intrude yourself. Can I have no
+privacy? Take yourself off, or I will not answer for the
+consequences."
+
+I confess I only laughed and still held my ground, although my lord's
+outcry had attracted much attention. Several people ran up, and they
+might have sided against me, when I heard a voice whisper into my ear:
+
+"Come, sir, come. Slip away. My lady is dying to see you. She is
+terribly upset."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+I was received with great warmth and cordiality by my friend, and it
+was made clear to me that my opportune appearance brought her great
+comfort and support.
+
+"I never hoped for such good fortune as this," she began heartily. "I
+had no idea you were within miles, and was repining bitterly that I
+had let you get so far out of the way. Now you appear in the very nick
+of time, just when I was almost in despair. But wait. Can I still
+count upon your help?"
+
+"Why, most certainly, Lady Blackadder."
+
+"Lady Black--" She was looking at me very keenly, and, as I thought,
+was much startled and surprised. Then with a conscious blush she went
+on. "Of course, I might have guessed you would penetrate my disguise,
+but you must not call me Lady Blackadder. I can lay no claim to the
+title."
+
+"May I be forgiven if I trench on such a delicate subject, and assure
+you of my most sincere sympathy? Everybody felt for you deeply. I
+hope you will believe that I am, and ever shall be, at your orders and
+devoted to your service."
+
+"Yes, yes, I am sure of it; I know I can depend upon you fully, and I
+mean to do so now at once. You know, you have heard, that Lord
+Blackadder is here, and actually in this hotel?"
+
+"I came with him. I was watching that fellow, the detective Falfani,
+when his lordship came upon the scene. We had words, a quarrel, almost
+a fight."
+
+"Pfu! He would not fight! I only wish you had thrashed him as he
+deserves. But that won't help matters now. How am I to escape him?"
+
+"With the child?"
+
+"To be sure. Of course, I do not fear him in the least for myself."
+
+"You want to keep the child?"
+
+"Naturally, as I carried it off."
+
+"And still more because you had the best right to it, whatever the
+Court might direct. You are its mother."
+
+Again she blushed and smiled, rather comically. "I certainly shall not
+surrender it to Lord Blackadder, not without a struggle. Yet he is
+very near getting it now."
+
+"In there?" I nodded towards the next room. "It is a close thing. How
+are you to manage it?"
+
+"There would not have been the slightest difficulty; it was all but
+done, and then some one, something, failed me. I expected too much
+perhaps, but I have been bitterly disappointed, and the danger has
+revived."
+
+"Come, come, Lady Blackadder, keep up your courage. Let us take
+counsel together. We can surely devise some fresh plan. Don't give way
+now; you have been so plucky all through. Be brave still."
+
+"Thank you, Colonel Annesley, I will." She put out her hand with
+enchanting frankness, her fine eyes shining gratefully. A man would
+have dared much, endured much, to win such gracious approval.
+
+"It is getting late, but you must hear all I have to tell before we
+can decide upon the next step. Will you listen to me? I shall not bore
+you. It is a long story. First let me clear the ground a little. I
+must disabuse your mind on one point. I am not Lady Blackadder--no,
+no, do not misunderstand me--not on account of the divorce, but I
+never was Lady Blackadder. She was Henriette Standish. I am Claire,
+her sister Claire."
+
+"What a fool I've been!" I cried. "I might have guessed."
+
+"How should you? But let me go on. I shall never forget that
+detestable trial, those awful days in the Divorce Court, when the
+lawyers fought and wrangled over my darling sister, like dogs over a
+bone, tearing and snarling at each other, while the judge sat above
+like a solemn old owl, never moving or making a sign.
+
+"Henriette positively refused to appear in the case, although she was
+pressed and entreated by her legal advisers. She could have thrown so
+much light on the worst and darkest part. She could have repudiated
+the cowardly charges made, and cast back the lies drawn round her to
+ruin her. If the jury had but seen her pretty, pathetic face, and
+heard from her own sweet lips all she had endured, they would have
+come to a very different verdict.
+
+"But she would not come forward on her own behalf. She would not
+defend the action; she did not want to win it, but waited till it was
+all over, hiding herself away in a far-off corner of the Apennines,
+where I was to join her with the child, little Ralph.
+
+"There had been no question of that; the possibility of her losing it
+had never been raised, or she would have nerved herself to fight
+sooner than give up what she valued more than her very life.
+
+"It fell upon me with crushing effect, although towards the end of the
+trial I had had my forebodings. Lord Blackadder was to have the
+custody of his heir, and my dear sweet Henriette was to be robbed for
+ever of her chiefest joy and treasure. The infant child was to be
+abandoned to strangers, paid by its unnatural and unfeeling father.
+
+"I had braced myself to listen to all that came out in court, a whole
+tissue of lies told by perjured wretches whose evidence was accepted
+as gospel--one of them was the same Falfani whom you know, and who had
+acted the loathsome part of spy on several occasions.
+
+"Directly the judge had issued his cruel fiat, I slipped out, hurried
+down-stairs into the Strand, jumped into a hansom, and was driven at
+top speed to Hamilton Terrace, bent upon giving instant effect to a
+scheme I had long since devised.
+
+"I found my faithful Philpotts awaiting me with everything prepared as
+I had arranged. The dear baby was dressed quickly--he was as good as
+gold--the baggage, enough for my hurried journey to Fuentellato, had
+been packed for days past, and we took the road.
+
+"I knew that pursuit would not tarry, but I was satisfied that I had
+made a good start, and I hoped to make my way through to Italy without
+interference. When I first saw you at Calais I was seized with a
+terrible fear, which was soon allayed; you did not look much like a
+detective, and you were already my good friend when the real ruffian,
+Falfani, came on board the train at Amiens."
+
+[_Lady Claire Standish passed on next to describe her journey from
+Basle to Lausanne, and the clever way in which she eluded the second
+detective--matters on which the reader has been already informed._]
+
+"On reaching Geneva I at once opened communications with Henriette. I
+felt satisfied, now that I had come so far, it would be well that she
+should join me, and that we should concert together as to our next
+proceedings. Our first and principal aim was to retain the child at
+all costs and against all comers. I had no precise knowledge as to
+where we should be beyond the jurisdiction of the English law, but I
+could not believe that the Divorce Court and its emissaries could
+interfere with us in a remote Italian village. My real fear was of
+Lord Blackadder. He was so bold and unscrupulous that, if the law
+would not help him, he would try stratagem, or even force. We should
+be really safe nowhere if we once came within his reach, and, the best
+plan to keep out of his clutches was to hide our whereabouts from him.
+
+"Fuentellato would not do, for although I do not believe he knew the
+exact spot in which Henriette had taken refuge, he must have guessed
+something from the direction of my journey, and that I was on my way
+to join her. If he failed to intercept me _en route_, he would make
+his way straight there. I had resolved he should not find us, but
+where else should we go? Farther afield, if necessary to the very end
+of the world. Lord Blackadder, we might be sure, would hunt high and
+low to recover his lost heir, sparing no expense, neglecting no means.
+
+"It was, however, essential to elude his agents, who were so near at
+hand and likely to press me close. That was another reason for drawing
+my sister to me. I had hit upon a cunning device, as I thought it, to
+confuse and deceive my pursuers, to throw them on to a false scent,
+lead them to follow a red herring, while the fox, free of the hunt,
+took another line."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+"There should be two Richmonds in the field! That was my grand idea.
+Two sets, two parties, each of them consisting of one lady, one maid,
+and one baby, exactly similar and indistinguishable. When the time was
+ripe we should separate, and each would travel in opposite directions,
+and I hoped to show sufficient guile to induce my persecutors to give
+chase to the wrong quarry. Run it to the death, while the party got
+clear away.
+
+"I had made a nice calculation. Fuentellato was at no great distance
+from Parma, on the main line of railway. If she started at once, via
+Piacenza to Turin, she could catch the Mont Cenis express through to
+Modane and Culoz, where she could change for Geneva, so as to reach me
+some time on Tuesday.
+
+"This was exactly what happened. My sister carried out my instructions
+to the letter, and I met her here on arrival. I had taken up my
+quarters in this hotel because it was so near the station, but I
+thought it prudent that Henriette should lodge somewhere else, the
+farther the better, and she went to a small place, the Hotel Pierre
+Fatio, at the other end of the town.
+
+"It is a long story, Colonel Annesley, but there is not much more, and
+yet the most interesting part is to come.
+
+"We now devoted ourselves to the practical carrying out of the scheme,
+just we four women; our maids, both clever dressmakers, were of
+immense help. It was soon done. You can buy anything in Geneva. There
+are plenty of good shops and skilful workers, and we soon provided
+ourselves with the clothes, all the disguises really that we
+required--the long gray dust cloaks and soft hats and all the rest, so
+much alike that we might have been soldiers in the same regiment.
+Philpotts and Victorine, my sister's maid, were also made up on a
+similar pattern, and a second baby was built up as a dummy that would
+have deceived any one.
+
+"Everything was completed by this morning, and I had settled that my
+sister, with her dear little Ralph, should get away, but by quite a
+new route, while I held my ground against the detectives. I felt sure
+they would soon hear of me and run me down. I hoped they would attach
+themselves to me, and meant to lead them a fine dance as a blind for
+Henriette, who, meanwhile, would have crossed to Lyons and gone south
+to Marseilles. The Riviera is a longer and more roundabout road to
+Turin, but it was open, and I hoped unimpeded. What do you think of my
+diplomacy?"
+
+"Admirable!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "Your cleverness, Lady Claire,
+is colossal. Go on, I beg of you. Surely you have succeeded?"
+
+"Alas! no. Everything was cut and dried and this evening we scored the
+first point in the game. Henriette went on this evening to Amberieu,
+the junction for Lyons. She went straight from her hotel, alone, for
+of course I was obliged to keep close, or the trick would have been
+discovered, and it was in part.
+
+"For I must tell you that to-day one of the detectives appeared in
+Geneva, not the first man, but a second, who attached himself to me at
+Basle. I met him plump on the Mont Blanc Bridge and turned tail, but
+he came after me. I jumped into a passing tram, so did he, and to
+throw him off his guard I talked to him, and made friends with him,
+and advised him to come and stay at this hotel. Then I got out and
+left him, making my way to the Pierre Fatio Hotel by a circuitous
+route, dodging in and out among the narrow streets till I nearly lost
+myself.
+
+"I thought I had eluded him, and he certainly was nowhere near when I
+went into the hotel. But I suppose he followed me, he must have, and
+found out something, for I know now that he went to Amberieu after
+Henriette--"
+
+"You are perfectly sure?"
+
+"She has telegraphed to me from Amberieu; I got it not an hour ago.
+The man accosted her, taking her for me. He would have it she was Mrs.
+Blair, and told her to her face that he did not mean to lose sight of
+her again. So you see--"
+
+"If she goes round by Lyons to Marseilles, then, he would be at her
+heels, and the scheme breaks down in that respect?"
+
+"Not only that, I don't see that he could interfere with her, or do
+her much harm, and at Marseilles she might change her plans entirely.
+There are ever so many ways of escape from a seaport. She might take
+ship and embark on board the first steamer bound to the East, for
+India or Ceylon, the Antipodes or far Cathay."
+
+"Well, why not?"
+
+"Henriette, my sister, has given way. Her courage has failed her at
+this, the most critical moment, when she is within a hair's breadth of
+success. She is afraid to go on alone with little Ralph, and is
+running back to me by the first train to-morrow morning, at five or
+six o'clock."
+
+"Coming here? Into the very mouths of all the others!"
+
+"Just so, and all my great scheme will be ruined. They cannot but find
+out, and there is no knowing what they may do. Lord Blackadder, I
+know, is capable of anything. I assure you, Colonel Annesley, I am in
+despair. What _can_ I do?"
+
+She looked at me in piteous appeal, the tears brimming over, her hands
+stretched towards me with a gesture at once pathetic and enchanting.
+
+"Say, rather, what can _we_ do, Lady Claire," I corrected her. "This
+is my business, too, if you will allow me to say so, and I offer you
+my advice for what it is worth."
+
+"Yes, I will take it thankfully, I promise you."
+
+"The only safe course now is the boldest. You must make another
+exchange with your sister, Lady Blackadder--"
+
+"Call her Lady Henriette Standish. She has dropped the other
+entirely."
+
+"By all means. Lady Henriette then has determined to take the first
+train from Amberieu at--Have you a Bradshaw? Thank you--at 5.52
+A.M., which will get her to Culoz at 6.48. You must, if
+possible, exchange babies, and at the same time exchange _roles_. I
+feel sure that you, at any rate, are not afraid of going to Marseilles
+with the real baby."
+
+"Hardly!" she laughed scornfully. "But Henriette--what is to become of
+her?"
+
+"That shall be my affair. It is secondary, really. The first and
+all-important is for you to secure the little Ralph and escape with
+him. It will have to be done under the very eyes of the enemy, for
+there is every reason to fear they will be going on, too. The other
+detective, this Tiler--I have heard them call him by that name--will
+have told them of her ladyship's movements, and will have summoned
+them, Falfani at least, to his side."
+
+"If I go on by that early train they will, no doubt, do the same. I
+must not be seen by them. They would fathom the trick of the two
+parties and the exchange."
+
+"Yet you must go on by that train. It's the only way."
+
+"Of course I might change my appearance a little, but not enough to
+deceive them. Cannot I go across to the station before them and hide
+in some compartment specially reserved for us?"
+
+"It might be managed. We might secure the whole of the seats."
+
+"Money is no object."
+
+"It will do most things, especially in Switzerland. Leave it to me,
+Lady Claire. All you have to do is to be ready to-morrow morning, very
+early, remember. Before 5 A.M."
+
+"If necessary I'll sit up all night."
+
+"Well, then, that's settled. I'll knock at your door and see you get
+some coffee."
+
+"Philpotts shall make it; no one in the hotel must know. There will be
+the bill."
+
+"I will see to that. I'll come back after you're ensconced, with the
+blinds drawn. Sick lady on the way, via Culoz to Aix-les-Bains, must
+not be disturbed. It won't matter my being seen on the road, all the
+better really if my lord is there, for I have a little plan of my own,
+Lady Claire--no, please don't ask me yet--but it will help matters, I
+think."
+
+"You are, indeed, my true and faithful friend," she said, as she put
+out her hand and wished me good night. She left it in mine for just a
+second, and I flattered myself that its warm pressure was meant to
+assure me that I had established a substantial claim to her regard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+On leaving Salon No. 17 I descended to the ground floor, seeking the
+smoking-room and a little stimulant to assist me in deciding the best
+course of action for the following day.
+
+As I passed along the corridor I caught sight of l'Echelle, whom I
+considered my man, in close confabulation with Falfani in a quiet
+corner. They could hardly have seen me, at least l'Echelle made no
+reference to the fact when he came to me presently and asked if I had
+any orders for the morning. I answered him sternly:
+
+"What was Falfani saying to you just now? The truth, please, or you
+get nothing more from me."
+
+"He is a _vaurien_ and _faineant_, and thinks others as bad as
+himself; said my lord would give me five hundred francs to know what
+you were doing, and find out whether the lady who travelled with us to
+Basle last Sunday is here in this house."
+
+"I've no objection to your taking his money if you will tell me
+something. How long does my lord mean to stay here? Have you any
+idea?"
+
+"They all go on by the early train to Culoz or farther. A pressing
+telegram has come from their man at Amberieu."
+
+"Ah! Indeed. Then you may say that I am also going by that early
+train. They're not going to shake me off very easily. Tell them that,
+and that if they want the lady they'd better look for her. She isn't
+here."
+
+I lied in a good cause, for a lady, as a gentleman is bound to do. I
+shall be forgiven, I think, under the circumstances.
+
+The free use of coin had the desired effect at the railway station.
+Soon after 5 A.M. I was met at a private door and escorted,
+with my precious party, by a circuitous route to where the 5.48 was
+shunted, waiting the moment to run back to the departure platform.
+There was a coupe ready for Lady Claire, and she took her place
+quietly, observed by no one but the obsequious official who had
+managed it all.
+
+As for me, I walked boldly to the hotel and hung about the hall till
+the Blackadder party appeared and had left for the station. Then I
+asked the hotel clerk for Lady Claire's bill, paid it, with my own,
+and went over to the train, selecting a compartment close to the
+coupe. As I passed it I knocked lightly on the window pane, giving a
+signal previously arranged between us.
+
+I do not think that Lord Blackadder saw me then, at the start. But at
+Bellegarde, the Swiss frontier, where there was a wait of half an hour
+for the Customs examination, an irritating performance always, but
+carried out here with the most maddening and overbearing
+particularity, everyone was obliged to alight from the train, and for
+the moment I trembled for Lady Claire. But the appeal addressed to the
+French brigadier, "_un galant homme_," of an invalid lady, too ill to
+be disturbed, was effectual, especially when backed by two five-franc
+pieces.
+
+Lord Blackadder was on the platform with the rest, and directly he saw
+me he came up with the same arrogant air, curiously blended with
+aggrieved helplessness.
+
+"This will end badly, Colonel Annesley. I give you fair warning. I
+shall appeal to the authorities. We shall be on French soil directly,
+and I know something of French law. It affords protection to all who
+claim it against such people as you."
+
+"If you talk like that I'll give you some reason to seek the
+protection of the gendarmes or police," I cried, but checked myself at
+once.
+
+I had made up my mind how to deal with him, but the time was not yet.
+
+"Your insolence, sir, outsteps all bounds, and you shall answer for
+it, I tell you."
+
+But now the cry was raised "_En voiture! en voiture!_" and we were
+peremptorily hustled back to our seats. Lord Blackadder hurried to his
+compartment at the end of the train some way from mine and the coupe.
+As I passed the latter, seeing the road clear, I gave the signal, and,
+taking out my railway carriage key, quickly slipped in.
+
+She received me with her rare sweet smile, that was the richest
+payment a man could ask.
+
+"The critical moment is at hand, Lady Claire," I said, speaking
+mysteriously. "It is essential that we should have a few last words
+together. Naturally we must now be guided very much by the way things
+happen, but so far as possible we must prepare for them. We have
+managed capitally so far. I don't believe Lord Blackadder has any idea
+you are in the train, and I much doubt that he expects to find Lady
+Henriette at Culoz. You think she will really be there?"
+
+"I feel sure of it. It is just what she would do."
+
+"Then everything will depend on you. You must be alert and prompt, on
+the _qui vive_ to seize your opportunity. It will be your business to
+make your way to her with the dummy the instant the train stops."
+
+"I shall have to find her."
+
+"That is the first and chief thing on your part. You _must_ find her
+at once. There are very few minutes for the whole job. Find her,
+exchange burthens, send her to the train for Aix-les-Bains. It will be
+waiting there. You hurry back to this coupe, lie low, and, if all goes
+well, you will be travelling on toward Amberieu before the enemy has
+the least notion what has occurred."
+
+"But one word, please. What will the enemy have been doing at Culoz?
+Say they catch sight of Henriette as soon as we do?"
+
+"I hope and trust they may. I count upon that as part of my
+programme."
+
+"But they will catch her, stop her, deprive her of our dear little
+Ralph."
+
+"Wait, wait. You will see. It will be settled in a moment now. But
+before it is too late let us arrange how you may communicate with me.
+We shall both be moving about, and the best address I can give will be
+in London. Telegraph to me there to my club, the Mars and Neptune,
+Piccadilly. I will send instructions there to have all telegrams
+opened and retelegraphed to me at once. They shall be kept informed of
+my whereabouts daily. But now, here we are, close to Culoz and already
+slowing down. Look out, please."
+
+It could not have suited me better. There, standing under the shadow
+of the dwarf plane-trees, but with not the slightest suggestion of
+concealment, was the exact counterpart of Lady Claire, her twin
+sister, Lady Henriette Standish, till lately Lady Blackadder. She was
+staring intently at our train as it ran in, deeply anxious, no doubt,
+to note the arrival of her sister.
+
+"Give me a short start," I said to Lady Claire as I jumped out of the
+coupe. "You will see why."
+
+Even as I spoke I was satisfied that the pursuing party had recognized
+the object of their journey. They had all alighted and were coming up
+the platform in great haste to where she stood. Had any doubt
+remained, it would have been removed by the appearance of a man who
+ran out from some back part of the station and waved them forward with
+much gesticulation.
+
+Here I interposed, and, rushing forward with all the ardour of a
+football player entering a scrimmage, I took Lord Blackadder by the
+throat and shook him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+[_Falfani again._]
+
+
+When that audacious and intemperate English Colonel so far forgot
+himself as to assault my lord the Right Honourable the Earl of
+Blackadder at Culoz Station in the open light of day before us all, I
+greatly rejoiced; for, although horror-stricken at his ruffianly
+conduct, I knew that he would get his deserts at last. The French
+authorities would certainly not tolerate brawling in the precincts of
+the railway station, and justice must promptly overtake the sole
+offender. The blackguard Colonel, the cause and origin of the
+disturbance, would, of course, be at once arrested and removed.
+
+The fracas had naturally attracted general attention. One or two
+porters ran up and endeavoured, with Tiler and myself, to rescue my
+lord from his cowardly assailant. A crowd quickly gathered around us,
+many passengers and a number of idlers, who drop from nowhere, as it
+might be, all drawn to the spot by overmastering curiosity. Everybody
+talked at the same time, asking questions, volunteering answers, some
+laughing shamelessly at my lord's discomfiture, a few expressing
+indignation, and declaring that such a scandal should not be
+permitted, and the guilty parties held strictly to account.
+
+The gendarmes on duty--a couple of them are always at hand in a French
+railway station--soon appeared, and, taking in the situation at the
+first glance, imposed silence peremptorily.
+
+"Let some one, one person only, speak and explain." The brigadier, or
+sergeant, addressed himself to me, no doubt seeing that I had assumed
+a prominent place in the forefront, and seemed a person of importance.
+
+"Monsieur here," I said, pointing to the Colonel, who, in spite of all
+we could do, still held my lord tight, "was the aggressor, as you can
+see for yourselves. Oblige him, I pray you, to desist. He will do my
+lord some serious injury."
+
+"Is one an English milord, _hein_? Who, then, is the other?"
+
+"An abominable _vaurien_," I answered with great heat. "A rank
+villain; one who outrages all decency, breaks every law, respects no
+rank--"
+
+"_Bus, bus_," cried the Colonel, in some language of his own, as he
+put me aside so roughly that I still feel the pain in my shoulder.
+"That'll do, my fine fellow. Let me speak for myself, if you please.
+Pardon, M. le brigadier," he went on, saluting him politely. "Here is
+my card. I am, as you will perceive, an officer of the English army,
+and I appeal to you as a comrade, for I see by your decorations, no
+doubt richly deserved, that you are an _ancien militaire_. I appeal to
+you for justice and protection."
+
+"Protection, forsooth!" I broke in, contemptuously. "Such as the wolf
+and the tiger and the snake expect from their victim."
+
+It made me sick to hear him currying favour with the gendarme, and
+still worse that it was affecting the old trooper, who looked on all
+as _pekins_, mere civilians, far inferior to military men.
+
+"Protection you shall have, _mon Colonel_, if you have a right to it,
+_bien entendu_," said the sergeant, civilly but cautiously.
+
+"I ask it because these people have made a dead set at me. They have
+tried to hustle me and, I fear, to rob me, and I have been obliged to
+act in my own defence."
+
+Before I could protest against this shameless misrepresentation of the
+fact, my lord interposed. He was now free, and, gradually recovering,
+was burning to avenge the insults put upon him.
+
+"It is not true," he shouted. "It is an absolute lie. He knows it is
+not true; he is perfectly well aware who I am, Lord Blackadder; and
+that he has no sort of grievance against me nor any of my people. His
+attack upon me was altogether unprovoked and unjustifiable."
+
+"Let the authorities judge between us," calmly said the Colonel. "Take
+us before the station-master, or send for the Commissary from the
+town. I haven't the slightest objection."
+
+"Yes, yes, the _Commissaire de police_, the judge, the peace officer.
+Let us go before the highest authorities; nothing less than arrest,
+imprisonment, the heaviest penalties, will satisfy me," went on my
+lord.
+
+"With all my heart," cried the Colonel. "We'll refer it to any one you
+please. Lead on, _mon brave_, only you must take all or none. I
+insist upon that. It is my right; let us all go before the
+Commissary."
+
+"There is no Commissary here in Culoz. You must travel to
+Aix-les-Bains to find him. Fifteen miles from here."
+
+"Well, why not? I'm quite ready," assented the Colonel, with an
+alacrity I did not understand. I began to think he had some game of
+his own.
+
+"So am I ready," cried his lordship. "I desire most strongly to haul
+this hectoring bully before the law, and let his flagrant misconduct
+be dealt with in a most exemplary fashion."
+
+I caught a curious shadow flitting across my comrade Tiler's face at
+this speech. He evidently did not approve of my lord's attitude. Why?
+
+I met his eye as soon as I could, and, in answer to my inquiring
+glance, he came over to me and whispered:
+
+"Don't you see? He," jerking his finger toward the Colonel, "wants us
+to waste as much time as possible, while my lady slips through our
+fingers and gets farther and farther on her road."
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Ah, where? No longer here, anyway."
+
+The train by which we had come from Geneva was not now in the station.
+It had gone on, quite unobserved by any of us during the fracas, and
+it flashed upon me at once that the incident had been planned for this
+very purpose of occupying our attention while she stole off.
+
+"But, one moment, Ludovic, that train was going to Macon and Paris. My
+lady was travelling the other way--this way. You came with her
+yourself. Why should she run back again?"
+
+"Ah! Why does a woman do anything, and particularly this one? Still
+there was a reason, a good one. She must have caught sight of my lord,
+and knew that she was caught."
+
+"That's plausible enough, but I don't understand it. She started for
+Italy; what turned her back when you followed her, and why did she
+come this way again?"
+
+"She only came because I'd tracked her to Amberieu, and thought to
+give me the slip," said Tiler.
+
+"May be. But it don't seem to fit. Anyway, we've got to find her once
+more. It ought not to be difficult. She's not the sort to hide
+herself easily, with all her belongings, the nurse and the baby and
+all the rest. But hold on, my lord is speaking."
+
+"Find out, one of you," he said briefly, "when the next train goes to
+Aix. I mean to push this through to the bitter end. You will be
+careful, sergeant, to bring your prisoner along with you."
+
+"_Merci bien!_ I do not want you or any one else to teach me my duty,"
+replied the gendarme, very stiffly. It was clear that his sympathies
+were all with the other side.
+
+"A prisoner, am I?" cried the Colonel, gaily. "Not much. But I shall
+make no difficulties. I am willing enough to go with you. When is it
+to be?"
+
+"Nine fifty-one; due at Aix at 10.22," Tiler reported, and we
+proceeded to pass the time, some twenty minutes, each in his own way.
+Lord Blackadder paced the platform with feverish footsteps, his rage
+and disappointment still burning fiercely within him. The Colonel
+invited the two gendarmes to the _buvette_, and l'Echelle followed
+him. I was a little doubtful of that slippery gentleman; although I
+had bought him, as I thought, the night before, I never felt sure of
+him. He had joined our party, had travelled with us, and seemed on our
+side in the recent scuffle, here he was putting himself at the beck
+and call of his own employer. My lord had paid him five hundred
+francs. Was the money thrown away, and his intention now to go back on
+his bargain?
+
+Meanwhile Tiler and I thought it our pressing duty to utilize these
+few moments in seeking news of our lady and her party. Had she been
+seen? Oh, yes, many people, officials, and hangers-on about the
+station had seen her. Too much seen indeed, for the stories told were
+confusing and conflicting. One _facteur_ assured us he had helped her
+into the train going Amberieu way, but I thought his description very
+vague, although Tiler swallowed the statement quite greedily. Another
+man told me quite a different story; he had seen her, and had not the
+slightest doubt of it, in the down train, that for Aix-les-Bains, the
+express via Chambery, Modane, and the Mont Cenis tunnel for Italy.
+This was the true version, I felt sure. Italy had been her original
+destination, and naturally she would continue her journey that way.
+
+Why, then, Tiler asked, had she gone to Amberieu, running back as she
+had done with him at her heels? To deceive him, of course, I retorted.
+Was it not clear that her real point was Italy? Why else had she
+returned to Culoz by the early train directly she thought she had
+eluded Tiler? The reasoning was correct, but Ludovic was always a
+desperately obstinate creature, jealous and conceited, tenacious of
+his opinions, and holding them far superior to those who were cleverer
+and more intelligent than himself.
+
+Then we heard the whistle of the approaching train, and we all
+collected on the platform. L'Echelle, as he came from the direction of
+the _buvette_, was a little in the rear of the Colonel and the
+gendarmes. I caught a look on his face not easy to interpret. He was
+grinning all over it and pointing toward the Colonel with his finger,
+derisively. I was not inclined to trust him very greatly, but he
+evidently wished us to believe that he thought very little of the
+Colonel, and that we might count upon his support against him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+There were seven of us passengers, more than enough to fill one
+compartment, so we did not travel together. My lord very liberally
+provided first-class tickets for the whole of the party, but the
+Colonel took his own and paid for the gendarmes. He refused to travel
+in the same carriage with the noble Earl, saying openly and impudently
+that he preferred the society of honest old soldiers to such a crew as
+ours. L'Echelle, still sitting on the hedge, as I fancied, got in with
+the Colonel and his escort.
+
+On reaching Aix-les-Bains, we found the omnibus that did the _service
+de la ville_, but the Colonel refused to enter it, and declared he
+would walk; he cared nothing for the degradation of appearing in the
+public streets as a prisoner marching between a couple of gendarmes.
+He gloried in it, he said; his desire was clearly to turn the whole
+thing into ridicule, and the passers-by laughed aloud at this
+well-dressed gentleman, as he strutted along with his hat cocked, one
+hand on his hip, the other placed familiarly on the sergeant's arm.
+
+He met some friends, too,--one was a person rather like himself, with
+the same swaggering high-handed air, who accosted him as we were
+passing the corner of the square just by the Hotel d'Aix.
+
+"What ho! Basil my boy!" cried the stranger. "In chokey? Took up by
+the police? What've you done? Robbed a church?"
+
+"Come on with us and you'll soon know. No, really, come along, I may
+want you. I'm going before the beak and may want a witness as to
+character."
+
+"Right oh! There are some more of us here from the old shop--Jack
+Tyrrell, Bobus Smith--all Mars and Neptune men. They'll speak for a
+pal at a pinch. Where shall we come?"
+
+"To the town hall, the _mairie_," replied the Colonel, after a brief
+reference to his escort. "I've got a particular appointment there with
+Monsieur le Commissaire, and the Right Honourable the Earl of
+Blackadder."
+
+"Oh! that noble sportsman? What's wrong with him? What's he been
+doing to you or you to him?"
+
+"I punched his head, that's all."
+
+"No doubt he deserved it; anyhow, Charlie Forrester will be pleased.
+By-by, you'll see me again, and all the chaps I can pick up at the
+Cercle and the hotels near."
+
+Then our procession passed on, the Colonel and gendarmes leading,
+Tiler and I with l'Echelle close behind.
+
+We found my lord awaiting us. He had driven on ahead in a _fiacre_ and
+was standing alone at the entrance to the police office, which is
+situated on the ground floor of the Hotel de Ville, a pretty
+old-fashioned building of gray stone just facing the Etablissement
+Thermale, the home of the far-famed baths from which _Aix-les-Bains_
+takes its name.
+
+"In here?" asked my lord; and with a brief wave of his hand he would
+have passed in first, but the officers of the law put him rather
+rudely aside and claimed precedence for their prisoner.
+
+But when M. le Commissaire, who was there, seated at a table opposite
+his _greffier_, rose and bowed stiffly, inquiring our business, my
+lord pushed forward into the front and began very warmly, in passable
+French:
+
+"I am an aggrieved person seeking justice on a wrong-doer. I--demand
+justice of you--"
+
+"_Pardon, monsieur, je vous prie._ We must proceed in order, and first
+allow me to assure you that justice is always done in France. No one
+need claim it in the tone you have assumed."
+
+The Commissary was a solemn person, full of the stiff formality
+exhibited by members of the French magistracy, the juniors especially.
+He was dressed in discreet black, his clean-shaven, imperturbable face
+showed over a stiff collar, and he wore the conventional white tie of
+the French official.
+
+"Allow me to ask--" he went on coldly.
+
+"I will explain in a few words," began my lord, replying hurriedly.
+
+"Stay, monsieur, it is not from you that I seek explanation. It is the
+duty of the officers of the law now present, and prepared, I presume,
+to make their report. Proceed, sergeant."
+
+"But you must hear me, M. le Commissary; I call upon and require you
+to do so. I have been shamefully ill-used by that man there." He
+shook his finger at the Colonel. "He has violently assaulted me. I am
+Lord Blackadder, an English peer. I am entitled to your best
+consideration."
+
+"Every individual, the poorest, meanest, is entitled to that in
+republican France. You shall have it, sir, but only as I see fit to
+accord it. I must first hear the story from my own people. Go on,
+sergeant."
+
+"I protest," persisted my lord. "You must attend to me--you shall
+listen to me. I shall complain to your superiors--I shall bring the
+matter before the British ambassador. Do you realize who and what I
+am?"
+
+"You appear to be a gentleman with an uncontrollable temper, whose
+conduct is most improper. I must ask you to behave yourself, to
+respect the _convenances_, or I shall be compelled to show you the
+door."
+
+"I will not be put down in this way, I will speak; I--I--"
+
+"Silence, monsieur. I call upon you, explicitly, to moderate your tone
+and pay proper deference to my authority." With this the commissary
+pulled out a drawer, extracted a tricolour sash and slowly buckled it
+round his waist, then once more turned interrogatively to the
+sergeant:
+
+"It is nothing very serious, M. le Commissaire," said the treacherous
+gendarme. "A simple brawl--a blow struck, possibly returned--a mere
+_rixe_."
+
+"Between gentlemen? _Fi donc!_ Why the commonest _voyous_, the
+_rodeurs_ of the _barriere_, could not do worse. It is not our French
+way. Men of honour settle their disputes differently; they do not come
+to the _police correctionnelle_."
+
+"Pray do not think it is my desire," broke in the Colonel, with his
+customary fierceness. "I have offered Lord Blackadder satisfaction as
+a gentleman, and am ready to meet him when and how he pleases."
+
+"I cannot listen to you, sir. Duels are in contravention of the Code.
+But I recommend you to take your quarrels elsewhere, and not to waste
+my time."
+
+"This is quite unheard of," cried my lord, now thoroughly aroused.
+"You are shamefully neglecting your duty, M. le Commissaire, and it
+cannot be tolerated."
+
+"I am not responsible to you, sir, and will account for my action _a
+qui de droit_, to those who have the right to question me. The case
+is dismissed. Gendarmes, release your prisoner, and let everyone
+withdraw."
+
+We all trooped out into the square, where a number of persons had
+assembled, evidently the Colonel's friends, for they greeted him
+uproariously.
+
+"The prisoner has left the court without a stain upon his character,"
+the Colonel shouted in answer to their noisy inquiries.
+
+"But what was it? Why did they run you in?" they still asked.
+
+"I refer you to this gentleman, Lord Blackadder. Perhaps some of you
+know him. At any rate you've heard of him. We had a difference of
+opinion, and I was compelled to administer chastisement." A lot of
+impudent chaff followed.
+
+"Oh! really, pray introduce me to his lordship," said one. "Does your
+lordship propose to make a long stay in Aix? Can we be of any use to
+you?" "You mustn't mind Basil Annesley; he's always full of his
+games." "Hope he didn't hurt you. He didn't mean it really;" and I
+could see that the Earl could hardly contain himself in his rage.
+
+Then, suddenly muttering something about "bounders" and "cads," he
+forced his way through and hurried off, shouting his parting
+instructions to us to join him as soon as possible at the Hotel
+Hautecombe on the hill.
+
+We followed quickly, and were ushered at once into his private
+apartment. It was essential to confer and decide upon some plan of
+action; but when I asked him what he proposed to do next, he received
+my harmless request with a storm of invective and reproach.
+
+"You miserable and incompetent fools! Don't expect me to tell you your
+business. Why do I pay you? Why indeed? Nothing you have done has been
+of the very slightest use; on the contrary, through your beastly
+mismanagement I have been dragged into this degrading position, held
+up to ridicule and contempt before all the world. And with it all, the
+whole thing has failed. I sent you out to recover my child, and what
+have you done? What has become of that abominable woman who stole it
+from under your very noses? Blackguards! Bunglers! Idiots! Fat-headed
+asses!"
+
+"Nay, my lord," pleaded Tiler humbly, for I confess I was so much
+annoyed by this undeserved reprimand I could not bring myself to
+speak civilly. "I think I can assure your lordship that matters will
+soon mend. The situation is not hopeless, believe me. You may rely on
+us to regain touch with the fugitives without delay. I have a clue,
+and with your lordship's permission will follow it at once."
+
+I saw clearly that he was set upon the absurd notion he had conceived
+that the lady had gone westward, and I felt it my duty to warn the
+Earl not to be misled by Tiler.
+
+"There is nothing in his clue, my lord. It is pure assumption, without
+any good evidence to support it."
+
+"Let me hear this precious clue," said his lordship. "I will decide
+what it is worth."
+
+Then Tiler propounded his theory.
+
+"It might be good enough," I interjected, "if I did not know the exact
+contrary. The lady with her party was seen going in exactly the
+opposite direction. I know it for a fact."
+
+"And I am equally positive of what I saw," said Tiler.
+
+His lordship looked from one to the other, plainly perplexed and with
+increasing anger.
+
+"By the Lord Harry, it's pleasant to be served by a couple of such
+useless creatures who differ so entirely in their views that they
+cannot agree upon a common plan of action. How can I decide as to the
+best course if you give me no help?"
+
+"Perhaps your lordship will allow me to make a suggestion?" I said
+gravely, and I flatter myself with some dignity, for I wished to show
+I was not pleased with the way he treated us.
+
+"Whether the lady has gone north or south, east or west, may be
+uncertain; and although I am satisfied in my own mind as to the
+direction she took, I am willing to await further developments before
+embarking on any further chase. To my mind the best clue, the real,
+the only clue, lies here, in our very hands. If we have only a little
+patience, this Colonel Annesley will act as a sign-post."
+
+"You think that some communication will reach him from the fugitives?"
+
+"Most decidedly I do. I firmly believe that the lady relies upon him
+greatly, and will in all probability call him to her, or if not that
+she will wish to let him know how she has got on."
+
+For the first time in this unpleasant interview his lordship looked
+at me approvingly. He quite changed his tone and dropped his
+aggressive manner.
+
+"I believe you are entirely right, Falfani, and cordially agree with
+your suggestion," he said with great heartiness. "Let it be adopted at
+once. Take immediate steps, if you please, to set a close watch on
+this pestilent villain Annesley; keep him continually under your eye."
+
+"We've got to find him first," objected Tiler gruffly and
+despondently.
+
+"It ought not to be difficult, seeing that he was here half an hour
+ago, and we can hunt up l'Echelle, who will surely know, and who I
+have reason to hope is on our side."
+
+"Do it one way or another. I look to you for that, and let me know the
+result without loss of time. Then we will confer again and arrange
+further. Leave me now."
+
+I accepted my dismissal and moved towards the door, but Tiler hung
+behind, and I heard him say timidly:
+
+"May I crave your lordship's pardon--and I trust you rely on my entire
+devotion to your lordship's service--but there is one thing I most
+earnestly desire to do."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"And that is to follow my own clue, at least for a time. It is the
+right one I firmly believe, and I am satisfied it would be wrong,
+criminal even to neglect it. Will you allow me to absent myself if
+only for a few days? That should suffice to settle the point. If I
+fail I will return with all speed. If, as I hope and believe, I strike
+the scent, assuredly you will not regret it."
+
+"There's something in what you say. At any rate that line ought to be
+looked up," said his lordship. "I am willing to wait a day or two
+until you return or report, or unless something more definite turns up
+in the other direction. I suppose he can be spared, Falfani?"
+
+"He will be no manner of use here, it will be better to let him go;
+let him run after his red herring, he'll precious soon find out his
+mistake."
+
+"We shall see," said Tiler, elated and cocksure, and I freely confess
+we did see that he was not quite the fool I thought him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+On leaving his lordship I descended to the grand entrance to the hotel
+with the intention of beating up the Colonel's quarters in Aix.
+Although the hotels were certain to be crowded at this, the height of
+the season, the town is not really large, the visitors' lists are well
+posted with new arrivals, and there are one or two public places where
+people always turn up at some time or other in the day. The _cercle_
+or _casino_ and its _succursale_ the Villa des Fleurs, with their many
+spacious rooms, reading-room, concert-room, baccarat-room, their
+restaurants, their beautiful gardens, are thronged at all hours of the
+day with the smart folk of all nationalities.
+
+I stood on the top of the steps waiting for the private omnibus that
+plies between the hotel and the town below, when I heard my name
+called from behind, and turning, was confronted by Jules l'Echelle.
+
+"Hullo!" I cried, eying him suspiciously. "What brings you up here?"
+
+"The Colonel, my master--for I have taken service with him, you must
+know--sent me here to inquire whether we could have rooms."
+
+"Why does he choose this hotel of all others?" I asked in a
+dissatisfied tone, although in my secret heart I was overjoyed.
+
+"It's the best, isn't it? Haven't you come here?"
+
+"My Lord Blackadder has, but that's another pair of shoes. There's
+some difference between him and a beggarly half-pay Colonel who will
+very likely have to black the boots to work out his bill. They know
+how to charge here."
+
+"The Colonel, I take it, can pay his way as well as most people.
+Anyhow, he's coming to stop here."
+
+"For any time?"
+
+"Likely enough. He said something about going through the course,
+taking the baths, and among the rest asked me to find out the best
+doctor."
+
+"That'll mean a lengthened stay; three weeks at least."
+
+"Well, why shouldn't he? He's his own master."
+
+"Then he's finished with that foolish business about the lady; had
+enough of it, I suppose; burnt his fingers and done no earthly good."
+
+"How do I know? It's not my business; but I fancy I have fallen into a
+snug berth, a soft job, better than making beds in a sleeping-car and
+being shaken to death in express trains."
+
+"Good wages, if it's a fair question?"
+
+"Fifty francs a week, _pour tout potage_."
+
+I looked at him hard, revolving in my mind how best to approach him.
+L'Echelle was a Swiss, and with most of his sort it is only a question
+of price. How much would it take to buy him?
+
+"Well, how have you fared? Have you succeeded in getting your rooms?
+Will your Colonel move up?"
+
+"What would his lordship say? Wouldn't like it much, I expect. Shall I
+prevent it? It will be easy to say there are no rooms. I'll do just as
+you please."
+
+"You're very obliging."
+
+"I'm willing enough to oblige, as I've always told you--at a price."
+
+"Put a name to it; but don't forget you've had something on account.
+Last night I gave you five hundred francs."
+
+"Bah! I want a lot more than that, a thousand francs down and fifty
+francs a day so long as I serve you. Do you agree to my terms?"
+
+"My lord won't. He looks both sides of his money, and pays no fancy
+prices for a pig in a poke."
+
+"Then I'll take my pigs to another market. Suppose I let the Colonel
+know what you've been at, trying to tamper with me. This hotel
+wouldn't be big enough to hold him and your patron together."
+
+"Well,"--I hesitated, not willing to appear too anxious,--"let's say,
+just for argument's sake, that you got what you ask, or something near
+it. I'm not in a position to promise it, no, not the half of it. But
+we'll agree what you'd do for us in return?"
+
+"Anything you chose to ask."
+
+"Would you come over to us, belong to us body and soul? Think first of
+my lord, put his interests before the Colonel's; tell us what the
+Colonel's doing, his game from day to day, read his letters, and tell
+us their contents; spy on his actions, watch him at every turn, his
+comings and his goings; the houses he calls at, the people he meets,
+every move he makes or has in view?"
+
+"If I promise to do all that will you promise not to give me away?
+You'll keep your own counsel and protect me from the Colonel? If he
+got a whisper I was selling him I'd lose my place and he'd half kill
+me into the bargain."
+
+"Not a soul shall know but my lord and myself. I must consult him, or
+you won't get the money."
+
+"But there is that other chap, the one who joined us at Culoz, and who
+was with you at the Commissariat, a new face to me. One of your own
+party, wasn't he?"
+
+"To be sure, Tiler; he's on the job, too, came out when I did from
+London. But he's gone, left us half an hour ago."
+
+"For good and all? Sacked, dropped out, or what?"
+
+"Gone to follow up a game of his own. He thinks he knows better than
+any one else; believes the lady has harked back, and is following her
+to Amberieu, Macon, Paris, England perhaps. God knows where. It's a
+wild goose chase, of course; but my lord leans to it, and so it is to
+be tried."
+
+"You don't agree?"
+
+"How can I when I'm satisfied he's wrong? She was seen in the express
+for Modane, making for the Mont Cenis tunnel. Of course that's the
+true direction. She was aiming for Italy from the first; the other
+sister, the divorced lady, is there; we've always known that. Go back
+to England! Bah! absolute rot. I'd stick to my opinion against fifty
+fools like Tiler."
+
+"It's a bargain, then; I can count upon the cash? How soon shall you
+know? I'd like to begin at once; there's something I would tell you
+here, and now, that would interest you very much. But money down is my
+rule."
+
+"Let me run up and ask his lordship. I won't keep you five minutes."
+
+My lord gave his consent a little grudgingly, but was presently
+persuaded that it was to his own advantage to have a spy in the heart
+of the enemy's camp. That was soon seen when l'Echelle had pocketed
+his notes and gave us the news in exchange.
+
+"Now that I'm my lord's man I don't mind telling you that the Colonel
+does not mean to stay long in Aix, not one minute longer than till the
+call comes."
+
+"He expects a call?"
+
+"Assuredly. He wants you to think he's a fixture here, but he means to
+cut and run after my lady whenever she sends to him. He'll be off then
+faster than that," he snapped his fingers, "and you won't find it easy
+to catch him."
+
+"That's good. You'll be well worth your money, I can see. Only be
+diligent, watch closely, and keep us fully informed. We shall trust
+very greatly to you."
+
+"Your trust shall not be misplaced. When I take an employer's pay I
+serve him faithfully and to the best of my power," he said with an
+engaging frankness that won me completely.
+
+Lord! Lord! what liars men are and what fools! I might have guessed
+how much reliance was to be placed upon a man who, to my certain
+knowledge, was serving two masters.
+
+Why should he be more faithful to my lord than to the Colonel?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+The rest of the first day at Aix passed without any important
+incident. I was a trifle surprised that the Colonel did not put in an
+appearance; but it was explained by l'Echelle, whom I met by
+appointment later in the day. I understood from him that the Colonel
+had decided to remain down in the town, where he had many friends, and
+where he was more in the thick of the fun. For Aix-les-Bains, as every
+one knows, is a lively little place in the season, and the heart and
+centre of it all is the Casino. The Colonel had established himself in
+a hotel almost next door, and ran up against me continually that
+afternoon and evening, as I wandered about now under the trees
+listening to the band, now at the baccarat table, where I occasionally
+staked a few _jetons_ of the smaller values.
+
+He never failed to meet my eye when it rested on him; he seemed to
+know intuitively when I watched him, and he always looked back and
+laughed. If any one was with him, as was generally the case--smart
+ladies and men of his own stamp, with all of whom he seemed on very
+familiar terms--he invariably drew their attention to me, and they,
+too, laughed aloud after a prolonged stare. It was a little
+embarrassing; he had so evidently disclosed my business, in scornful
+terms no doubt, and held me up to ridicule, describing in his own way
+and much to my discredit all that had happened between us. Once he had
+the effrontery to accost me as I stood facing the green board on which
+the telegrams are exposed.
+
+"Where have we met?" he began, with a mocking laugh. "I seem to know
+your face. Ah, of course, my old friend Falfani, the private detective
+who appeared in the Blackadder case. And I think I have come across
+you more recently."
+
+"I beg you will not address yourself to me. I don't know you, I don't
+wish to know you," I replied, with all the dignity I could assume. "I
+decline to hold any conversation with you," and I moved away.
+
+But several of his rowdy friends closed around me and held me there,
+compelled to listen to his gibes as he rattled on.
+
+"How is his lordship? Well, I hope. None the worse for that little
+_contretemps_ this morning. May I ask you to convey to him my deep
+regrets for what occurred, and my sincere wishes for his recovery? If
+there is anything I can do for his lordship, any information I can
+give him, he knows, I trust, that he can command me. Does he propose
+to make a lengthened stay here?"
+
+"His lordship--" I tried vainly to interrupt him.
+
+"Let me urge him most strongly to go through the course. The warm
+baths are truly delightful and most efficacious in calming the temper
+and restoring the nerve-power. He should take the Aix treatment, he
+should indeed. I am doing so, tell him; it may encourage him."
+
+"Colonel, this is quite insufferable," I cried, goaded almost to
+madness. "I shall stand no more of it. Leave me in peace, I'll have no
+more truck with you."
+
+"And yet it would be wiser. I am the only person who can be of any use
+to you. You will have to come to me yet. Better make friends."
+
+"We can do without you, thank you," I said stiffly. "His lordship
+would not be beholden to you, I feel sure. He can choose his own
+agents."
+
+"And in his own sneaking, underhand way," the Colonel answered
+quickly, and with such a meaning look that I was half-afraid he
+suspected that we were tampering with his man. "But two can play at
+that game, as you may find some day."
+
+When I met l'Echelle that same evening as arranged, at the Cafe Amadeo
+in the Place Carnot, I questioned him closely as to whether his master
+had any suspicion of him, but he answered me stoutly it was quite
+impossible.
+
+"He knows I see you, that of course, but he firmly believes it is in
+his own service. He is just as anxious to know what you are doing as
+you are to observe him. By the way, have you heard anything of your
+other man?"
+
+"Why should I tell you?"
+
+"Oh, don't trouble; only if I could pass him on a bit of news either
+way it might lead him to show his hand. If Tiler is getting 'hot'--you
+know the old game--he might like to go after him. If Tiler is thrown
+out the Colonel will want to give help in the other direction."
+
+"That's sound sense, I admit. But all I can tell you is we had a
+telegram from him an hour or two ago which doesn't look as if he was
+doing much good. It was sent from Lyons, a roundabout way of getting
+to Paris from here, and now he's going south! Of all the born idiots!"
+
+"Poor devil! That's how he's made. It's not everyone who's a born
+detective, friend Falfani. It's lucky my lord has you at his elbow."
+
+We parted excellent friends. The more I saw of l'Echelle the more I
+liked him. It was a pleasure to work with a man of such acute
+perceptions, and I told him so.
+
+Nothing fresh occurred that night or the next day. I was never very
+far off my Colonel, and watched him continually but unobtrusively. I
+hope I know my business well enough for that.
+
+I was rather struck by a change in his demeanour. It was very subtle,
+and everyone might have noticed it. He wore an air of preoccupation
+that spoke to me of an uneasy mind. He was unhappy about something;
+some doubt, some secret dread oppressed him, and more than once I
+thought he wished to keep out of sight and avoid my searching
+interrogative eyes.
+
+"You're right," said l'Echelle. "He's down on his luck, and he don't
+want you to see it. He's dying for news that don't seem in a hurry to
+come. Half a dozen times to-day he's asked me to inquire if there's a
+telegram for him, and he haunts the hall porter's box continually in
+the hope of getting one. Have you heard any more from Tiler?"
+
+"Yes, another mad telegram, this time from Marseilles. Fancy that! It
+will be Constantinople next or Grand Cairo or Timbuctoo. The folly of
+it!"
+
+"What does my lord say?"
+
+"Plenty, and it's not pleasant to bear. He's getting fairly wild, and
+cart ropes won't hold him. He wants to go racing after Tiler now, and
+if he does he'll give away the whole show. I hope to heaven your boss
+will show his hand soon."
+
+"It's not for me to make him, you must admit that. But cheer up,
+_copain_, things may mend."
+
+They did, as often happens when they seem to be at their worst.
+
+I have always been an early riser, and was specially so at Aix, now
+when the heat was intense, and the pleasantest hours of the day were
+before the sun had risen high. I was putting the finishing touches to
+my toilette about 7 A.M. when I heard a knock at my door, and
+without waiting permission l'Echelle rushed in.
+
+"Already dressed? What luck! There is not a moment to lose. Come
+along. I've a _fiacre_ at the door below."
+
+He gave the _etablissement_ as the address, and we were soon tearing
+down the hill. As we drove along l'Echelle told me the news.
+
+"It's come, that satanic telegram, and just what he wanted, I'm
+prepared to swear. He simply jumped for joy when he read it."
+
+"But what was the message? Go on, go on, out with it!" I shouted
+almost mad with excitement.
+
+"I can't tell you that, for I haven't seen it yet."
+
+"Are you making a fool of me?"
+
+"How could I see it? He put it straight into his pocket. But I mean
+to see it pretty soon, and so shall you."
+
+"You mean to abstract it somehow--pick his pocket, or what?"
+
+"Simplest thing in the world. You see he's gone to have his bath, he
+likes to be early, and he's undergoing the douche at this very moment,
+which means naturally that he's taken off his clothes, and they are
+waiting in the dressing-room for me to take home. I shall have a good
+quarter of an hour and more to spare before they carry him back to the
+hotel in his blankets and get him to bed."
+
+"Ha!" I said, "that's a brilliant idea. How do you mean to work it
+out?"
+
+"Take the telegram out of his waistcoat pocket, read it, or bring it
+to you."
+
+"Bring it; that will be best," I interrupted, feeling a tinge of
+suspicion.
+
+"But I must put it straight back," continued l'Echelle, "for he is
+sure to ask for it directly he returns to the hotel."
+
+Within a few minutes he had gone in and out again, carrying now one of
+the black linen bags used by _valets de chambres_ to carry their
+masters' clothes in. He winked at me as he passed, and we walked
+together to a shady, retired spot in the little square where the
+cab-stand is, and sat in the newspaper kiosk on a couple of
+straw-bottomed chairs of the Central _cafe_.
+
+"Read that," he said triumphantly, as he handed me the familiar scrap
+of blue paper.
+
+"Have got safely so far with nurse and baby--entreat you to follow
+with all possible speed--dying to get on.--CLAIRE, Hotel
+Cavour, Milan."
+
+"Excellent!" I cried, slapping my thigh. "This settles all doubts. So
+much for that fool Tiler. My lord will be very grateful to you," and I
+handed him back the telegram, having first copied it word for word in
+my note-book.
+
+"It means, I suppose," suggested l'Echelle, "that you will make for
+Milan, too?"
+
+"No fear--by the first train. You'll be clever if you get the start of
+us, for I presume you will be moving."
+
+"I haven't the smallest doubt of that; we shall be quite a merry
+party. It will be quite like old times."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+[_Colonel Annesley again._]
+
+
+I had no reason to complain of the course of events culminating in the
+affair at Culoz. I defended to myself the assault upon Lord Blackadder
+as in a measure provoked and justifiable under the circumstances,
+although I was really sorry for him and at the poor figure he cut
+before the police magistrate and gendarmes. But I could not forget the
+part he had played throughout, nor was I at all disposed to turn aside
+from my set purpose to help the ladies in their distress. Every man of
+proper feeling would be moved thereto, and I knew in my secret heart
+that very tender motives impelled me to the unstinting championship of
+Lady Claire.
+
+I was still without definite news of what had happened between the two
+sisters while I was covering their movements at Culoz. I could not
+know for certain whether or not the exchange had actually been
+effected, and I did not dare inquire about the station, for it might
+betray facts and endanger results. I had no hope of a message from
+Lady Henriette, for she would hardly know where to address me. Lady
+Claire would almost certainly telegraph to me via London at the very
+earliest opportunity, and I was careful to wire from Culoz to the hall
+porter of my club, begging him to send on everything without a
+moment's delay.
+
+Then, while still in the dark, I set myself like a prudent general to
+discover what the enemy was doing. He was here in Aix in the persons
+of Lord Blackadder and his two devoted henchmen, Falfani and Tiler. I
+had heard the appointment he had given them at the Hotel Hautecombe,
+and I cast about me to consider how I might gain some inkling of their
+intentions. Luckily I had desired l'Echelle, the sleeping-car
+conductor, to stick to me on leaving the police office, and I put it
+to him whether or not he was willing to enter my service.
+
+"I will take you on entirely," I promised, "if you choose to leave
+your present employment. You shall be my own man, my valet and
+personal attendant. It is likely that I may wander about the
+Continent for some time, and it may suit you to come with me."
+
+He seemed pleased at the idea, and we quickly agreed as to terms.
+
+"Now, l'Echelle," I went on, "after last night I think I may trust you
+to do what I want, and I promise you I won't forget it. Find out what
+the other side is at, and contrive somehow to become acquainted with
+Lord Blackadder's plans."
+
+"How far may I go?" he asked me plump. "They are pretty sure to try
+and win me over, they've done so already. Shall I accept their bid? It
+would be the easiest way to know all you want."
+
+"It's devilish underhand," I protested.
+
+"You'll be paying them back in their own coin," he returned. "_A
+corsaire fieffe corsaire et demi._ It will be to my advantage, and you
+won't lose."
+
+"Upon my soul, I don't quite like it." I still hung back, but his
+arguments seemed so plausible that they overcame my scruples, and I
+was not sorry for it in the long run.
+
+[_The reader has already been told how Falfani craftily approached
+l'Echelle, and found him, as he thought, an easy prey. We know how
+the communication was kept up between the two camps, how Falfani was
+fooled into believing that he kept close watch over Colonel Annesley
+through l'Echelle, how the latter told his real master the true news
+of the progress made by Tiler. When there could be little doubt that
+the chase was growing warm and had gone as far as Lyons, the Colonel
+felt that there was danger and that he must take more active steps to
+divert the pursuit and mislead the pursuers. The Colonel shall
+continue in his own words._]
+
+I was much disturbed when I learnt that Tiler had wired from Lyons. I
+saw clearly what it meant. The next message would disclose the
+whereabouts of the Lady Claire, at that time the only lady, as they
+thought, in the case, and the lady with the real child. It would soon
+be impossible for me to make use of the second with the sham child to
+draw the pursuers after her. In this it must be understood that,
+although I had no certainty of it, I took it for granted that the
+little Lord Aspdale was with his aunt and not with his mother, who, as
+I sincerely believed, had already reached Fuentellato.
+
+It was essential now to persuade my Lord Blackadder and his people
+that this was the case, and induce them to embark upon a hasty
+expedition into Italy.
+
+I therefore concocted a cunning plan with l'Echelle for leading them
+astray. It was easy enough to arrange for the despatch of a telegram
+from Milan to me at Aix, a despatch to be handed in at the former
+place by a friend of l'Echelle's, but purporting to come from Lady
+Claire. My man had any number of acquaintances in the railway service,
+one or more passed daily through Aix with the express trains going
+east or west; and with the payment of a substantial douceur the trick
+was done.
+
+The spurious message reached me in Aix early on the third morning, and
+the second act in the fraud was that l'Echelle should allow Falfani to
+see the telegram. He carried out the deception with consummate skill,
+pretending to pick my pocket of the telegram, which he then put under
+Falfani's eyes. The third act was to be my immediate exit from Aix. I
+made no secret of this, very much the reverse. Notice was given at the
+hotel bureau to prepare my bill, and insert my name on the list of
+departures by the afternoon express, the 1.41 P.M. for Modane and
+Italy. It was quite certain that I should not be allowed to go off
+alone.
+
+And suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, came a complete change in the
+situation. Not long after I had consumed my morning _cafe au lait_ and
+rolls, the conventional _petit dejeuner_ of French custom, a letter
+was brought to my bedside, where, again according to rule, I was
+resting after my bath.
+
+I expected no letters, no one except the porter of my London club knew
+my present address, and the interval was too short since my telegram
+to him to allow of letters reaching me in the ordinary course of the
+post.
+
+I turned over the strange missive, the address in a lady's hand quite
+unknown to me, examining it closely, as one does when mystified,
+guessing vainly at a solution instead of settling it by instantly
+breaking the seal.
+
+When at last I opened it my eye went first to the signature. To my
+utter amazement I read the name, "Henriette Standish." It was dated
+from the Hotel de Modena, Aix-les-Bains, a small private hotel quite
+in the suburbs in the direction of the Grand Port, and it ran as
+follows:
+
+"DEAR COLONEL ANNESLEY:--I have only just seen in the
+_Gazette des Etrangers_ that you are staying in Aix. I also am here,
+having been unable to proceed on my journey as I intended after
+meeting my sister at Culoz. I thought of remaining here a few days
+longer, but I have also read Lord Blackadder's name in the list.
+
+"What is to be done? I am horribly frightened, and greatly vexed with
+myself for having put myself in this painful and most embarrassing
+position.
+
+"May I venture to ask your counsel and help? I beg and entreat you
+will come to me as soon as possible after receipt of this. Ask for
+Mrs. Blair. Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting you,
+your extreme kindness to Claire emboldens me to make this appeal to
+you. I shall be at home all the morning. Indeed, I have hardly left
+the house yet, and certainly shall not do so now that I know _he_ is
+here.
+
+"Always very gratefully and sincerely yours,
+
+"HENRIETTE STANDISH."
+
+Here was a pretty kettle of fish! Lady Blackadder in Aix! Was there
+ever such a broken reed of a woman? Already she had spoilt her
+sister's nice combinations by turning back from Amberieu when the road
+to safety with her darling child lay open to her. Now for the second
+time she was putting our plans in jeopardy. How could I hope to lure
+her pursuers away to a distance when she was here actually on the
+spot, and might be run into at any moment? For the present all my
+movements were in abeyance. I had reason to fear--how much reason I
+did not even then realize--they would be interfered with, and that a
+terrible collapse threatened us.
+
+I dressed hurriedly and walked down to the Hotel Modena, where I was
+instantly received. "Mrs. Blair" had given orders that I should be
+admitted the moment I appeared. I had had one glimpse of this tall,
+graceful creature, who so exactly reproduced the beautiful traits of
+her twin sister that she might indeed at a distance be taken for her
+double. There was the same proud carriage of her head, the same lithe
+figure, even her musical voice when she greeted me with shy cordiality
+might have been the voice of Lady Claire.
+
+But the moment I looked into her face I saw a very distinct
+difference, not in outward feature, but in the inward character that
+is revealed by the eyes, the lines of the mouth, the shape of the
+lower jaw. In Lady Claire the first were steady and spoke of high
+courage, of firm, fixed purpose; the mouth, as perfectly curved as
+Cupid's bow, was resolute and determined, the well-shaped, rounded
+chin was held erect, and might easily become defiant, even aggressive.
+
+Lady Henriette was evidently cast in another mould. Her eyes, of the
+same violet blue, were pretty, pleading, soft in expression, but often
+downcast and deprecating; the mouth and chin were weak and irresolute.
+It was the same lovely face as Lady Claire's, and to some might seem
+the sweeter, indicating the tender, clinging, yielding nature that
+commonly appeals to the stronger sex; but to me she lost in every
+respect by comparison with her more energetic, self-reliant sister.
+
+I heard the explanation, such as it was, without the smallest
+surprise; it was very much what I expected now when I was permitted to
+know and appreciate her better.
+
+"What shall I say, Colonel Annesley, and what will you think of me?"
+she began plaintively, almost piteously. "But the moment I found I
+had to part with my child my courage broke down. I became incapable of
+doing anything. I seemed quite paralyzed. I am not brave, you know,
+like my dearest Claire, or strong-minded, and I quite collapsed."
+
+"But I hope and trust you have made the exchange. Lady Claire has
+little Lord Aspdale and has left you the dummy? Tell me, I beg."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, we made the exchange," she replied, in such a
+faltering, undecided voice that I doubted, and yet could not bring
+myself to believe that she was not telling the truth.
+
+"So much depends upon it, you see. Everything indeed. It would be a
+very serious matter if--if--"
+
+"The contrary was the case," I wanted to say, yet how could I? I
+should be charging her directly with wilfully misleading me, and
+deceiving me in this moment of extreme peril.
+
+"But what will happen now?" she said, her voice faltering, her eyes
+filling, and seemingly on the very verge of hysterics. "What if
+Blackadder should find that I am here, and--and--"
+
+"He can do nothing to you unless he has a right to act, unless," I
+answered unhesitatingly and a little cruelly perhaps, regardless of
+the scared look in her face, "you have good reason to dread his
+interference. Lady Henriette, you have not been quite straight with
+me, I fear. Where is little Lord Aspdale?"
+
+"In there!" she pointed to an inner room, and burst into
+uncontrollable tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+To say that I was aghast at the discovery of Lady Blackadder, or, as
+she preferred to call herself, Lady Henriette Standish, in Aix, and
+with the precious child, would but imperfectly express my feelings.
+For the moment I was so utterly taken aback that I could decide upon
+no new plan of action. I sat there helplessly staring at the poor
+creature, so full of grief and remorse that I was quite unable to rise
+to the occasion. I had counted so securely upon tricking Lord
+Blackadder into a barren pursuit that my disappointment was
+overwhelming and paralyzed my inventiveness.
+
+Only by slow degrees did I evolve certain definite facts and
+conclusions. The most essential thing was to get Lord Blackadder away
+from Aix. So long as he remained he was an ever present danger; our
+game was up directly he awoke to the true state of affairs. He could
+appeal now to the police with better result than when claiming my
+condign punishment. How was he to be got away? By drawing him after
+me. Clearly I must go, and that not alone, but take them with me,
+following me under the positive impression that I was leading them
+straight to their goal. Not one hint, not the slightest suspicion must
+be permitted to reach them that their quarry was here, just under
+their feet. Undoubtedly I must adhere to my first plan. When I had
+gone on with the others at my heels, the coast would be clear for Lady
+Henriette, and she must double back once more and go into safe hiding
+somewhere, while the hunt overshot its quarry and rolled on.
+
+So soon as Lady Blackadder recovered from her agitation, I essayed to
+win her approval of my plans. But the idea of parting from me now that
+she had laid hold of me was so repugnant to her that she yielded once
+more to her nerves.
+
+"I beg and implore you, Colonel Annesley, not to leave me again. I
+cannot possibly stay here alone. Let me go with you, please, please.
+I'll do what you like, disguise myself, go third class, anything; but
+for goodness' sake don't desert me, or I don't know what will
+happen."
+
+"There is simply no help for it, Lady Henriette. You simply must. It
+is imperative that you should remain here at least for a day or two
+while the others clear out of your way. It would be quite fatal if
+they saw you or you came across them."
+
+"Oh, you're too cruel, it is perfectly inhuman. I shall tell Claire, I
+am sure she will take my part. Oh, why isn't she here, why did I let
+her leave me? I think I am the most wretched and ill-used woman
+alive."
+
+These lamentations and indirect reproaches rather hardened my heart.
+The woman was so unreasonable, so little mindful of what was being
+done for her, that I lost my patience, and said very stiffly:
+
+"Lady Henriette, let us quite understand one another. Do you want to
+keep your child? I tell you candidly there is only one way to save
+it."
+
+"My darling Aspdale! Of course I want to keep him. How can you suggest
+such a horrid idea? It is not a bit what I expected from you. Claire
+told me--never mind what; but please understand that I will never give
+my baby up."
+
+I was nettled by her perverseness, and although I tried hard to
+school myself to patience, it was exceedingly difficult.
+
+"Indeed, Lady Henriette, I have no desire to separate you from your
+child, nor would I counsel you under any circumstances to give it up.
+But quite certainly while you are here in Aix you are in imminent
+danger of losing it. You ought never to have kept it--it was madness
+to come here and run straight into the jaws of danger."
+
+"How was I to know?" she retorted, now quite angrily. "I really think
+it is too bad of you to reproach me. You are most unkind."
+
+"Dear, dear," I said fretfully, "this is all beside the question. What
+is most urgent is to shield and save you now when the peril is most
+pressing."
+
+"And yet you propose to leave me to fight it out alone? Is that
+reasonable? Is it generous, chivalrous, to desert a poor woman in her
+extremity?"
+
+"I protest, you must not put it like that. I have explained the
+necessity. Surely you must see that it would be madness, quite fatal
+for us, to be seen together, or for you to be seen at all. I must
+still hoodwink them by going off this afternoon."
+
+"And leave me without protection, with all I have at stake? If only
+Claire was here."
+
+"It wouldn't mend matters much, except that Lady Claire would side
+with me."
+
+"Oh, yes, you say that, you believe she thinks so much of you and your
+opinion that she would agree to anything you suggest."
+
+"Mine is the safest and the only course," I replied, I am afraid with
+some heat. "You must, you shall take it."
+
+"Upon my word, Colonel Annesley, you speak to me as if I were a
+private soldier. Be good enough to remember that I am not under your
+orders. I claim to decide for myself how I shall act."
+
+She was no longer piteous or beseeching; her tears had dried, a flush
+of colour had risen to her cheeks, and it was evident that her despair
+had given place to very distinct temper.
+
+I was in a rage myself, and sprang to my feet with a sharp exclamation
+of disgust.
+
+"Really, Lady Henriette, you will drive me to wash my hands of the
+whole business. But I came into it to oblige your sister, and I owe it
+to her to do my best without reference to you. I have marked out a
+line for myself, and I shall follow it. Unless you are disposed to
+change your views, I shall stick to mine; and I do not see the use of
+prolonging this interview. I will bid you good day."
+
+I moved towards the door, still keeping an eye on her, believing her
+to be quite set in her fatuous refusal to hear reason. She still held
+herself erect and defiant, and there seemed to be small hope of doing
+anything with her. Then suddenly I saw symptoms of giving way. Signals
+of distress were hung out in her quivering lip and the nervous
+twitching of her hands. All at once she broke down and cried
+passionately:
+
+"No, no, no; you must not leave me--not like that. I cannot bear it; I
+am too miserable, too agitated, too terrified. I have no one to lean
+on but you. What shall I do? What shall I do?" And she collapsed into
+a chair, weeping as if her heart would break.
+
+The situation was awkward, embarrassing. At another time I might have
+been puzzled how to deal with it, but this was a moment of supreme
+emergency. A great crisis was imminent, the ruin of our scheme and the
+downfall of our hopes were certainly at hand if I gave way to her.
+Everything depended upon my action, and I knew that the only chance
+of safety lay in the execution of my design.
+
+This being so, her tears made no great impression on me. I may be
+called a hard-hearted brute, but I really had no great sympathy with
+her in her lamentations. It was not an occasion for tears, I felt; and
+I must be firm and unwavering, whatever she might think of me. I
+counted, at any rate, and with some assurance, on the approval of Lady
+Claire if the details of this painful scene should ever come to her
+ears.
+
+Nor could I wait till she chose to regain her composure. Time was too
+precious to be wasted in any attempts to win her back to common sense,
+and without waiting for permission I crossed the room, rang the bell,
+and begged the waiter to summon the lady's maid. She was a strongly
+built, matter-of-fact French woman, probably not easily disturbed; but
+she glanced apprehensively at her mistress, and turned a suspicious
+look on me.
+
+"You had better see to your lady," I said sharply. "She has an attack
+of nerves. I've no doubt it will soon pass, but I'm afraid I have
+imparted some distressing news. Be good enough to tell her when she
+recovers that I shall come back in half an hour, when I trust she
+will be ready to accompany me."
+
+"What is this?" broke in Lady Henriette, suddenly interposing and
+evidently roused to deep interest in my words. "Accompany you? Where,
+I should like to know?"
+
+"Is that of much consequence? You have entreated me not to leave you.
+Well, we shall not part; I propose to take you away with me. Do you
+object? It was your own wish."
+
+"I retract that. I will not go with you; certainly not in the dark.
+You must tell me first where you think of going, what you mean to do.
+Is it likely that I should trust myself alone with an almost complete
+stranger--a man who has shown me so little consideration, who has been
+so unkind, so cruel, and who now wants to carry me off goodness knows
+where, because he is so _obstinately determined_ that his is the right
+way to proceed."
+
+"Lady Henriette," I said civilly but very coldly, and putting the drag
+on myself, for I confess she was trying me very hard, "let there be no
+misunderstanding between us. Either you consent to my proposals
+absolutely and unhesitatingly, or I shall withdraw altogether from
+your service. I have felt that I had a duty to Lady Claire, and I
+have been honestly anxious to discharge it, but by your present
+attitude I feel myself absolved from that duty. I am not unwilling to
+accept responsibility, but only if I am allowed to act as I please."
+
+"Oh, how like a man! Of course you must have your own way, and every
+one else must give in to you," she cried with aggravating emphasis,
+giving me no credit for trying to choose the wisest course.
+
+"I know I'm right," I urged, a little feebly perhaps, for I was nearly
+worn out by her prejudice and utterly illogical refusal to see how the
+land lay. But I quickly recovered myself, and said quite peremptorily,
+"You shall have half an hour to make up your mind, not a minute more,
+Lady Henriette. You shall give me my answer when I return. I warn you
+that I shall bring a carriage in half an hour, and I strongly advise
+you to be ready to start with me. Have everything packed, please, and
+the bill paid. I will take no denial, remember that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+I returned to my hotel vexed and irritated beyond measure by my
+passage at arms with Lady Henriette Standish, and hating the prospect
+of any further dealings with her. I very cordially echoed her repeated
+cry for Lady Claire. Matters would have been very different had her
+strong-minded sister been on the spot to use her influence and help us
+with her counsel. What a contrast between the two women! I was more
+and more drawn to the one, and more and more heartily despised the
+other.
+
+With my mind full of the beautiful creature who had made me a willing
+captive to her charms, her gracious presence was recalled to me by a
+message from under her own hand. As I passed the threshold of my
+hotel, the hall porter gave me a telegram from Lady Claire. It had
+come via London, but the office of origin was Marseilles.
+
+     "Reached so far, yesterday," it said. "One of them turned up
+     this morning--have no fear--exchange not effected--shall
+     remain here for the present--Hotel Terminus.
+
+     "CLAIRE."
+
+I read and re-read this passage with a delightful feeling that it
+brought me into touch with my love, and I may be permitted for seeing
+in it clear proof of her bright wit and intelligence. She told me just
+exactly all that it was essential to know: of the pursuit, of the
+absence of pressing danger, of the abortive attempt to exchange
+babies, and where she was to be found. Suppose that I had not met Lady
+Henriette, I was fully prepared for anything that might occur.
+
+It was now barely 10 A.M., and the time intervening before
+the departure of the eastward bound express (three and a half hours)
+was none too much to carry out my intentions as to Lady Henriette.
+
+I first of all ordered a covered landau to be harnessed as speedily as
+possible, and to be sent to await me in a side street near the Hotel
+Modena; then I summoned l'Echelle and bade him make all ready for the
+journey. I also told him that I should be busily engaged that
+forenoon; but that as I might be obliged to run it very close for the
+train, he was to make all preparations, to take the tickets, and await
+me on the platform. I had debated anxiously with myself how far I
+should betray the presence of Lady Henriette in Aix to l'Echelle, and
+decided that, although I had no particular reason to doubt him, I felt
+that it would be more prudent to keep the fact to myself. For the same
+reason I kept him busily engaged in my bedroom packing, lest he should
+spy upon my movements. There was still the fear that Falfani might be
+on the watch, but I had been assured by l'Echelle that the Blackadder
+party were so satisfied by the news he gave them that they left the
+business of shadowing almost entirely to him.
+
+I was pretty sure that I reached the Hotel Modena unobserved. I came
+upon the carriage by the way, and as I passed briefly desired the
+driver to follow me to the Hotel Modena. Arriving there, I sent up my
+name, and followed it, a little unceremoniously, to Lady Henriette's
+sitting-room.
+
+She was there, dressed in hat and jacket, and so far disposed to
+comply with my wishes. Her maid, Victorine, was with her, the baby on
+her knee. Her baggage, happily light enough, was there, packed and all
+ready for a start.
+
+But if I thought that Lady Henriette meant to yield without another
+skirmish I was sadly mistaken. I was in for much more than a skirmish;
+it was to be a battle royal.
+
+"The carriage is at the door," I said as pleasantly as possible. "We
+have nearly an hour's drive before us, and I am delighted to think
+that you are ready and willing to go with me."
+
+"I am ready, as you see, but not willing," she answered, bridling up
+with a scornful air. "Very much the reverse indeed. The more I think
+over it the more outrageous and preposterous your behaviour seems.
+Where are we going? I insist upon knowing. I must have a plain
+categorical answer or I will not move an inch." Her dogged, determined
+air was belied by her dress and the obvious preparations already made
+for departure. Her present attitude I set down to the vacillation of
+her character. She might make up her mind one moment and one way, and
+yet be quite prepared to change it the next.
+
+"You are fully entitled to know where you are going, and I have not
+the smallest desire to keep it from you," I replied, still speaking in
+a smooth, courteous voice. "I propose that you should take up your
+residence for a time--the very shortest time possible--at Le Bourget,
+a small place at the head of the lake. You may know it; there is a
+snug little hotel in the village, the Dent du Chat. You will like it."
+
+"I shall not like it. I dislike the whole idea exceedingly. Why should
+I be buried alive in such an out-of-the-way spot?"
+
+"It will be no worse than Fuentellato, a place you chose for
+yourself."
+
+"I have a house of my own there--my own servants. It is perfectly
+safe."
+
+"Not now, believe me, they will come upon you there; trace you easily
+and quickly, and they are capable of any violence to capture and
+deprive you of your treasure." I pointed to the child on the maid's
+knee.
+
+"I shall be more at their mercy here in Aix."
+
+"Be guided by me. I am certain of what I say. All will be well if you
+will only keep out of the way now for a few hours, perhaps at most a
+couple of days. If they do not find you at once they will never find
+you. Only let me have a short start ahead and I'll lead them a pretty
+dance, and take them further and further away. You may rely on it, and
+I assure you they will never be able to find you or do you any harm."
+
+"I wish I could believe you," she said. "If I could only believe in
+you and trust you as Claire does," she murmured pathetically, still
+tortured by doubt. "Why has Claire deserted me? If she were only here,
+or I knew where to find her!"
+
+I was on the point of imparting my last news, but I checked myself.
+Lady Henriette had seen her last, and must be well aware of the
+direction she was taking to Lyons and Marseilles. It would only
+unsettle her to know that her sister was at Marseilles to-day, and
+would be at Genoa to-morrow. She would be mad to join her, and it was
+my most earnest wish that, for the present at least, Lady Henriette
+should keep quiet in the background with her charge.
+
+"You will soon be able to communicate with her, no doubt. Of course
+you arranged that at Culoz?"
+
+"We arranged nothing. It was all so hurried, and we had much to talk
+about. She was so hard on me when I declared I could not part with my
+blessed boy. We had words--"
+
+"Ah!" I had heard enough to know that there had been a strong
+difference of opinion, a sharp quarrel probably, and that Lady Claire
+had not spared her sister at this fresh exhibition of ridiculous
+weakness.
+
+"May I ask, please, whether you were to believe in me or not?" I
+resumed, taking up the discussion where I had left it. "We must be
+moving if we are to go at all."
+
+Her acquiescence, now tardily given, was surly and ungracious.
+
+"I suppose I cannot help myself; I am quite at your mercy. You may be
+sure I shall not easily forget this, or forgive your overbearing
+treatment. I will go, but under protest."
+
+She led the way herself and entered the carriage first, motioning to
+Victorine to hand her the baby and take her seat inside. She made no
+such sign to me, although I followed close behind. But I also got in
+without invitation, only explaining that it might not be wise to show
+myself on the box.
+
+The coachman had his orders, and he drove off briskly along the
+Marlioz road till he reached the turning towards the head of the
+lake. In less than an hour we pulled up before the Hotel Dent du
+Chat, a simple, unpretending hostelry, to which I had telegraphed in
+advance, stating my needs. We were received with profuse civility, the
+best of everything placed at our disposal, a best at which Lady
+Henriette, as I might have expected, turned up her nose, sniffing and
+scornful.
+
+She uttered no complaint, she would not address a word to me; her air
+was one of lofty, contemptuous reserve; she intimated plainly that we
+were "dead cuts."
+
+Only at the last, just as I was driving away and lifted my hat in
+farewell, she yielded to an impulse of despair, and seized my arm in
+almost frenzied appeal.
+
+"You must not, you cannot desert me; I will not be left like this. No
+man, no gentleman would do it. I beg and implore you to remain within
+reach, somewhere near at any rate. I can never face this place alone."
+
+Her last appeal touched me to the quick. Once more I sought to explain
+the dire necessity for this act that seemed so barbarous, but she was
+deaf to all my arguments, and still clung to me nervously as I climbed
+into the carriage.
+
+When at length I got away, and I persisted in leaving, being so fully
+satisfied it was for the best, her piteous, reproachful accents still
+rung in my ears, and I shall count that return drive to Aix as the
+most miserable hour I have passed in my life.
+
+The whole episode had occupied much time, and it was already past one
+when I reentered the town. I drove straight to the railway station,
+and was met outside it by the faithful l'Echelle.
+
+"Monsieur, monsieur, will you believe it? They have gone half an hour
+ago, and not by the eastern but the western express."
+
+"You saw them?"
+
+"I spoke to them. Falfani himself told me of the change in their
+plans. The latest news from their man in the south was so positive,
+and has so convinced my lord, that he is hastening full speed to join
+Tiler, and they are only too delighted to leave you behind."
+
+I laughed aloud with intense satisfaction.
+
+"You do not mind, monsieur? You have no reason to fear them?"
+
+"Not the least in the world, they are playing into my hands. I, too,
+have changed my plans. I shall now remain in Aix for some time
+longer. I shall be glad to go on with the baths."
+
+But I was thinking really of that poor creature I had abandoned at Le
+Bourget, and overjoyed to think that I might now meet her wishes, and
+perchance regain something of her good-will.
+
+Once more I took the road to Le Bourget, driving over by the first
+_fiacre_ I could pick up on the stand, a much slower journey than the
+first, and it was nearly 3 P.M. when I reached the little
+hotel.
+
+It was indeed a day of surprises, of strange emotions and moving
+incidents.
+
+When I alighted and asked for "Mrs. Blair," I was answered abruptly
+that she was gone.
+
+"Gone? When? How?" I cried, in utter amazement.
+
+"Madame went very soon after monsieur," said the _patronne_, in high
+dudgeon. "She was not complimentary, she said this place was too
+_triste_, that it got on her nerves. She called me up and said I was
+to bring her the _Indicateur_. Then she must have a carriage as soon
+as it could be prepared to drive her to Culoz, fifteen miles away,
+meaning to take the train from there."
+
+"Not to Aix?"
+
+"Assuredly not, for when I suggested that she could more easily find
+the train there she told me to hold my tongue, that she knew very well
+what she was about, and wanted no observations from me."
+
+To Culoz? She was bound then to follow her sister, I felt sure of it;
+and I was aghast, foreshadowing the new dangers opening before her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+[_The Lady Claire Standish has her say._]
+
+
+It was as much as I could do to restrain myself when I saw my gallant
+knight, the Colonel, rush at that despicable creature, Lord
+Blackadder, and shake him. I wanted to put my head out of the window
+and cry, "Well done!" But I saw the folly of it, much as I was
+delighted, and checked any demonstration of joy. I had no time to
+spare for anything outside our settled plan, so I jumped out on to the
+platform at once, and closely followed by Philpotts joined Henriette,
+and cried:
+
+"Quick, quick, dear, the train goes on in less than ten minutes. Give
+me the child, we must exchange again."
+
+"What do you mean?" she gasped, and looked at me dazed and bewildered.
+"Why should I part with my boy, my own boy! I cannot, indeed I cannot.
+Why? Why?"
+
+"Because Blackadder is over there, and in another minute or two the
+child will be taken forcibly from you. Luckily I can still save it."
+
+"Oh, but please, Claire, please explain. I do not understand, not in
+the least. What am I to do? I haven't heard, I do not know."
+
+"Go on to Fuentellato with the dummy. It is the easiest thing in the
+world. They will follow you, Colonel Annesley will see to that, while
+I carry our darling to some secure hiding-place and keep out of sight
+until we can meet. There, do not, for heaven's sake, delay. Give me
+the child."
+
+"I can't, I can't. I will not part with it. My own, my precious babe.
+Never. Nothing will induce me."
+
+"Upon my word, Henriette, you are too aggravating and impossible. To
+think that now at the eleventh hour you should fail me and break down.
+Are you going to spoil everything! Let me take little Ralph;" and I
+put out my arms for the child, which Victorine held.
+
+But the mother stood between us, seized the baby convulsively, and
+with a gesture of repulsion cried:
+
+"Go away, go away, you shall not have him. I don't care what happens,
+I will keep him against all the world."
+
+I pleaded and stormed in turn, I tried everything but force, all
+without avail. My foolish sister seemed to have taken leave of her
+senses; she thought nothing of the nearly certain collapse of our
+schemes, her one overmastering idea was, like any tigress, to resist
+all attempts to deprive her of her cub.
+
+Meanwhile the time ran on. Already the officials were crying "_En
+voiture_," and I knew my train was timed to leave at five minutes past
+8 A.M. If I lingered I should lose it, no great matter perhaps, seeing
+that the exchange, my principal object, had not been made; but if I
+remained with Henriette, she with her baby and I with mine, the whole
+of the artifice might at any moment be laid bare.
+
+I had to decide then and there, and all I could think of at the time
+was to keep the enemy in the dark as to the doubled part of the baby.
+At first I thought of sending Philpotts on alone with her charge and
+remaining with Henriette. She was so helpless, so weak and vacillating
+that I had small hope of her getting through to Fuentellato by
+herself. That was clearly the wisest course, and I should have taken
+it, but I was sorely vexed and put out by her obstinate refusal to
+play her part; and I told her so.
+
+"Once more and for the last time, Henriette, will you do what I want?"
+I asked her peremptorily.
+
+She only hugged her baby the closer and whispered a soft lullaby.
+
+"Then I shall go on with the other. It may be best. They may still be
+drawn after me, and leave you to your own devices. The only thing for
+you to do is to take the first train the other way,--it will be here
+in ten minutes,--keep low and you may get through into Italy
+unobserved."
+
+"Are you really deserting me?" she cried piteously. "When shall I see
+you again?"
+
+"I shall go round the long journey to Marseilles, by the South of
+France, and will join you at Fuentellato. There is no reason why you
+should not get there. Colonel Annesley will detain the others here,
+you may be sure of that. Good-bye, now," and without another word
+Philpotts and I ran round, regained the up platform, resumed our seats
+by the narrowest margin and proceeded on our way to Amberieu.
+
+The reaction from this agitating scene was little less than despair
+and collapse. So soon as I could bring myself to think calmly and at
+leisure, I realized that I had done a very foolish thing. Was it
+possible for Henriette to get off by herself? Hardly, she had not the
+nerve, I had almost said the wit, to escape alone from the toils and
+snares that encompassed her. I blamed myself, I became a prey to the
+bitterest self-reproach for having abandoned her, for allowing myself
+to give way to temper, and treat her so cruelly. As the train rattled
+on, one thought took possession of me. I must get out and go back
+instantly, at least at the very first opportunity. I must retrace my
+steps and return again to Culoz, where I hoped to be in time to
+support and strengthen her, please God save her from the consequences
+of my unkind and ill-considered action.
+
+Accordingly, at the very next station, Virieu, I alighted. It was
+still no more than 8.21. In less than an hour I was in the return
+train and once more at Culoz, where, sending Philpotts to hide with
+her charge in the inmost recesses of the ladies' waiting-room, I
+vainly explored the station for any signs of Henriette, but to my
+delight she was nowhere in sight. I was fairly entitled to suppose
+that she had gone on.
+
+The place was still in a turmoil, the consequences no doubt of the
+affray expressly begun by Colonel Annesley to befriend me. I narrowly
+escaped being seen by some of my enemies, but they were evidently too
+much preoccupied by their indignation at the outrage put upon that
+great personage, Lord Blackadder. I passed within an inch or two of my
+gallant Colonel and was sorely tempted to speak to him, but was
+deterred by the possible mischief it might entail.
+
+I was relieved when they all took seats in the eastward bound train,
+going only as far as Aix-les-Bains, where, as I heard it stated by the
+Culoz officials, the case was to be submitted to the Commissary of
+Police. I felt sure that my gallant Colonel would hold his own, I felt
+no very great concern for him. Although not fully satisfied as to
+Henriette, I was so far satisfied by coming upon all the parties,
+Ralph, Blackadder, and the rest, at Culoz, that she had disappeared
+from the scene without interference.
+
+I had now to decide upon my own movements. I debated with myself
+whether I should not follow my sister to Fuentellato, to which I made
+sure she had gone, and I had every reason to hope that I could
+eventually join her there. But it seemed to be throwing away that same
+chance of mystification which I had always kept in view, which might
+have served me so well but for her weakness, and I still clung to my
+hope of drawing them after me on the wrong scent.
+
+At one time I thought of venturing boldly into their midst and
+appearing openly at Aix; but this would probably end in abruptly
+pricking the bubble, and nothing more was to be done. I thought of
+sending Philpotts to hunt up the Colonel and convey a letter to him
+detailing my situation, and was much taken with this idea, which I
+presently rejected because I did not clearly see what good could come
+of it. I was tortured with doubts, unable to decide for the best, and
+at last, from sheer inability to choose, resolved to adhere to my
+original plan of travelling south.
+
+I would at least go to Marseilles, which I could reach that very
+night, and once there would be guided by circumstances, seeking only
+to control them to the extent of reporting my whereabouts to Henriette
+at Fuentellato, and to the Colonel via London as arranged.
+
+This as it proved was the very wisest course I could have adopted, as
+will presently appear.
+
+I was doomed to a long wait at Culoz. There was no train due westward
+till 12.40, and I had to put in nearly three solid hours, which I
+spent in wandering into the village, where I found an unpretending
+_auberge_ and a rather uneatable breakfast.
+
+Everywhere I was met with wearisome delays. A slow train to Amberieu,
+a still slower cross journey to Lyons, which I did not reach till
+nearly 4 P.M., and learnt that another hour or more must
+elapse before the departure of the next Marseilles express.
+
+The journey seemed interminable, but just as I was losing all
+patience, I received a fillip that awoke me to alertness, and set all
+my nerves tingling.
+
+The man Tiler, the second detective, the man whom I had already
+befooled more than once, was there now on the platform, waiting like
+myself to embark upon the 5.19 train south to Marseilles.
+
+He had come after me; that was perfectly clear. He, and he alone, and
+I rejoiced greatly that I had to do entirely with him. I had tried my
+strength with him more than once already, and felt myself his equal
+in guile. Although he owed me a grudge and would certainly be upon his
+guard, I thought myself strong enough to face and outwit him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+When I first caught sight of Mr. Ludovic Tiler he was busily engaged
+in conversation with one of the guards and a couple of porters. From
+his gestures, no doubt, he was describing our party, and I was
+half-inclined to walk up to him and say "Behold!" But then I drew back
+hesitating. I did not fear him in the least, but he would be sure to
+draw the others to him, and I did not quite like the idea of having
+three of them on my hands at once, and with no Colonel on my side.
+
+I could only communicate with Colonel Annesley by a roundabout
+process, and it might take him some time to reach me, even if he was
+not otherwise engaged by Henriette.
+
+This Tiler man would of course stick to me and follow me if he had the
+faintest clue, and I let him have that by directing Philpotts to show
+herself, passing quite close to him and walking on towards the train.
+She was to return then to the waiting-room, where together we made
+some change in our appearance. There were other cloaks in the bundle
+of rugs, which we put on over those we were wearing. I got out a thick
+veil, and Philpotts replaced her neat bonnet by a soft motor cap. More
+than all, we made away with the dummy child, broke up the parcel,
+resolved it into its component parts, a small pillow and many wraps,
+all of which we put away in the same convenient receptacle.
+
+Tiler certainly did not recognize us as we walked separately to the
+train. He was looking for a party of two and a baby, and all he saw
+was one woman who might remind him of me, but without her attendant or
+any encumbrance. He had his suspicions, however, for as soon as we
+started he walked through the long line of _couloir_ carriages,
+deliberately peering and prying, examining the passengers of every
+compartment. He passed us at first, and was much put out, I could see,
+disappointed no doubt, but he came back presently and stood for some
+time at our window, while I hid my face in among the rugs, and
+Philpotts cowered in a corner.
+
+He came back more than once during the journey and stared. No doubt he
+would have taken a seat in our compartment, but it was reserved for
+_dames seules_ or ladies alone. He was evidently in great doubt, so
+much so that I began to fear he would sheer off altogether. That we
+were the women he wanted was probably borne in on him, but what had
+become of the baby? I could enter into the workings of his mind on
+that point. What could we have done with it? Hidden it, left it
+somewhere on the road in the lost property office or at a foundling
+hospital? All sorts of suggestions probably presented themselves to
+him, but none would satisfy him; for why, he would reason, were we
+travelling to Marseilles or anywhere else without it?
+
+To tie him still to our heels, I took the opportunity of having the
+compartment to ourselves to revive and reconstitute the dummy. The
+baby was quickly reborn behind the drawn blinds of the carriage, and
+when at last we arrived at Marseilles at 10.30 P.M. we sallied forth
+and marched in solemn procession to the Terminus Hotel under the very
+eyes of our watchful detective. I almost laughed in his face as we
+entered the lift near the outer door, and were carried up to our rooms
+upon the second floor.
+
+I slept late, and when I woke, refreshed and fortified against
+anything that might come, I looked out on to the little square with
+its fringe of plane-trees, and saw my friend Mr. Tiler walking to and
+fro like a sentry on his beat. He had the hotel under observation that
+was clear, and it was little I should be able to do that day unknown
+to him.
+
+It did not worry me in the least, for in the early hours of calm
+reflection that followed deep, restful sleep, I had thought out the
+course I should pursue. I no longer dreaded pursuit; let them all
+come, the more the merrier, and I meant to fully justify Mr. Tiler in
+calling them to him.
+
+I dressed slowly, lingered leisurely over my _luncheon-dejeuner_, and
+then ordered a carriage, a comfortable landau and pair. I meant to
+lead my follower a fine dance, starting with the innocent intention of
+giving myself and my belongings an airing. It was a brilliant day, the
+Southern sun struck with semi-tropical fervour, the air was soft and
+sleepy in the oppressive heat. I brought out the baby undeterred, and
+installed it, slumbering peacefully, on Philpotts's knees in the seat
+before me, and lying back with ostentatious indifference, drove off
+in full view of the detective.
+
+I shot one glance back as I turned down the long slope leading to the
+Grace-a-Dieu Street, and was pleased to see that he had jumped into a
+_fiacre_ and was coming on after me. He should have his fill of
+driving. I led him up and down and round and round, street after
+street, all along the great Cannebiere and out towards the Reserve,
+where Roubion's Restaurant offers his celebrated fish stew,
+_bouillabaise_, to all comers.
+
+Then when Mr. Tiler's weedy horse began to show signs of distress, for
+my sturdy pair had outpaced him sorely, I relented and reentered the
+town, meaning to make a long halt at the office of Messrs. Cook and
+Son, the universal friends of all travellers far and near. I had long
+had an idea in my mind that the most promising, if not the only
+effective method of ending our trouble would be to put the seas
+between us and the myrmidons of the Courts. I had always hoped to
+escape to some far-off country where the King's writ does not run,
+where we could settle down under genial skies, amid pleasant
+surroundings, at a distance from the worries and miseries of life.
+
+Now, with the enemy close at hand, and the real treasure in my foolish
+sister's care, I could not expect to evade them, but I might surely
+beguile and lead them astray. This was the plan I had been revolving
+in my mind, and which took me to the tourist offices. The object I had
+in view was to get a list of steamers leaving the port of Marseilles
+within the next two or three days, and their destination. As everybody
+knows, there is a constant moving of shipping East, West, and South,
+and it ought not to be difficult to pick out something to suit me.
+
+The obliging clerk at the counter gave me abundant, almost unending,
+information.
+
+"To the East? Why, surely, there are several opportunities. The P. and
+O. has half a dozen steamers for the East, pointing first for Port
+Said and Suez Canal, and bound to India, Ceylon, China, and the
+Antipodes; the same line for Gibraltar and the West. The Messageries
+Maritime, for all Mediterranean ports, the General Navigation of Italy
+for Genoa and Naples, the Transatlantique for various Algerian ports,
+Tunis, Bone, Philippeville, and Algiers, other companies serving the
+coast of Morocco and especially Tangier."
+
+Truly an embarrassing choice! I took a note of all that suited, and
+promised to return after I had made a round of the shipping
+offices,--another jaunt for Tiler, and a pretty plain indication of
+what was in my mind.
+
+After full inquiry I decided in favour of Tripoli, and for several
+reasons. A steamer offered in a couple of days, Sunday, just when I
+wanted it, although it was by no means my intention to go to Tripoli
+myself. That it was somewhat out of the way, neither easy to reach nor
+to leave, as the steamers came and went rarely, served my purpose
+well. If I could only inveigle my tormentors into the trap, they might
+be caught there longer than they liked.
+
+Accordingly, I secured a good cabin on board the S.S. _Oasis_ of the
+Transatlantique, leaving Marseilles for Tripoli at 8 A.M. the
+following Sunday, and paid the necessary deposit on the passage
+ticket.
+
+It was a satisfaction to me to see my "shadow's" _fiacre_ draw up at
+the door soon after I left, and Mr. Ludovic Tiler enter the office. I
+made no doubt he would contrive, very cleverly as he thought, to find
+out exactly what I had been doing with regard to the _Oasis_.
+
+Later in the day, out of mere curiosity, I walked down to the offices
+to ask a trivial question about my baggage. It was easy to turn the
+talk to other matters connected with the voyage and my fellow
+passengers.
+
+Several other cabins had been engaged, two of them in the name of
+Ludovic Tiler.
+
+There was nothing left for me but to bide my time. I telegraphed that
+evening to Colonel Annesley, reporting myself, so to speak, and
+counted upon hearing his whereabouts in reply next day.
+
+Tiler did not show up nor trouble me, nor did I concern myself about
+him. We were really waiting for each other, and we knew enough of each
+other's plans to bide in tranquil expectation of what we thought must
+certainly follow. When I was at dinner in the hotel restaurant he
+calmly came into the room, merely to pass his eye over me as it were,
+and I took it so much as a matter of course that I looked up, and felt
+half-inclined to give him a friendly nod. We were like duellists
+saluting each other before we crossed swords, each relying upon his
+own superior skill.
+
+[_We need not reproduce in detail the rest of the matters set forth by
+Lady Claire Standish while she and the detective watched each other
+at Marseilles. Tiler, on the Saturday morning, made it plain, from
+his arrogance and self-sufficient air as he walked through the hotel
+restaurant, that all was going well, and he had indeed heard from
+Falfani that he would arrive with Lord Blackadder that night._
+
+_Later on that Saturday a telegram from Culoz reached Lady Claire from
+Colonel Annesley giving the latest news, and bringing down Lady
+Henriette's movements to the time of her departure for Marseilles. He
+promised a later message from somewhere along the road with later
+information, and soon after 9 P.M. Lady Claire was told they were
+coming through by the night train, due at Marseilles at 4 A.M. next
+morning. Thus all the parties to this imbroglio were about to be
+concentrated in the same place, and it must depend upon the skill and
+determination of one clever woman to turn events her way._]
+
+She goes on to say:
+
+It was a shock to me to hear that Henriette still lingered on the
+fringe of danger, and I was very much disturbed at finding she might
+be running into the very teeth of it. But I trusted to my good
+fortune, and, better still, to good management, to keep her out of
+harm's way until the coast was clear.
+
+I was on the platform at 10 P.M. watching for the Blackadder
+lot when they appeared. Tiler was there to receive them and spoke a
+few words to my lord, who instantly looked round, for me no doubt, and
+I slipped away. I did not wish to anticipate a crisis, and he was
+quite capable of making a scene, even at the hotel at that time of
+night. I was relieved at seeing him pass on, and the more so that he
+did not take the turn into the Terminus Hotel, my hotel, but went
+towards the entrance where a carriage was waiting for him. He meant of
+course to put up in the town, either at the Noailles or the Louvre.
+
+I lay down to take a short rest, but was roused in time to be again on
+the platform at 4 A.M. to meet my friends. It was a joyful
+meeting, but we lost little time over it. Henriette was fairly worn
+out, and all but broke down when she saw me. The Colonel came to the
+rescue as usual, and said briefly, after we had shaken hands:
+
+"Take charge of her, Lady Claire, I will see to everything now. We can
+talk later."
+
+"Can you be at the entrance to the hotel in a couple of hours' time?
+I shall want your advice, probably your assistance."
+
+"You know you have only to ask," he answered, with the prompt,
+soldierlike obedience, and the honest, unflinching look in his eyes
+that I knew so well and loved in him. Here was, indeed, a brave, loyal
+soul, to be trusted in implicitly, and with my whole heart.
+
+I felt now that I should succeed in the difficult task I had set
+myself. The plan I had conceived and hoped to work out was to send
+Lord Blackadder to sea, all the way to Tripoli, with Philpotts and the
+sham child.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+We drove down, Philpotts and I, to the wharf where the steamers of the
+Transatlantique Company lie. The _Oasis_ had her blue peter flying,
+and a long gangway stretched from her side to the shore, up and down
+which a crowd passed ceaselessly, passengers embarking, porters with
+luggage, and dock hands with freight. At the top of the slope was the
+chief steward and his men, in full dress, white shirts, white ties,
+and white gloves, who welcomed us, asking the number of our stateroom,
+and offering to relieve us of our light baggage.
+
+One put out his arms to take the baby from Philpotts, but she shook
+her head vigorously, and I cried in French that it was too precious.
+
+Next moment a voice I recognized said:
+
+"Certainly they are there, and they have it with them. Why not seize
+it at once?"
+
+"Not so fast, Lord Blackadder," I interposed, turning on him fiercely.
+"No violence, if you please, or you may make the acquaintance of
+another police commissary."
+
+I had heard the whole story of the affair at Aix from the Colonel, who
+I may say at once I had seen shortly before, and who was at no great
+distance now.
+
+"Go on, Philpotts, get down below and lock yourself in," I said
+boldly. "Our cabin is thirty-seven--" checking myself abruptly as
+though I had been too outspoken.
+
+"But, Lady Claire, permit me," it was Lord Blackadder behind, speaking
+with quite insinuating softness. "Do be more reasonable. Surely you
+perceive how this must end? Let me entreat you not to drive me to
+extremities. I mean to have the child, understand that; but we ought
+to be able to arrange this between us. Give it up to me of your own
+accord, you shall not regret it. Ask what you choose, anything--a
+pearl collar or a diamond bracelet--"
+
+"Can you really be such a base hound, such an abject and contemptible
+creature, as to propose terms of that sort to me? How dare you think
+so ill of me? Let me pass; I cannot stay here, it would poison me to
+breathe the same air. Never speak to me again," I almost shouted,
+filled with bitter shame and immeasurable scorn, and I turned and left
+him.
+
+Down-stairs I found Philpotts in the cabin, busily engaged in putting
+her "doll" to bed in the third berth.
+
+"Are you at all afraid of being left with these wretches?" I asked a
+little doubtfully, counting upon her devotion, but loth to lay too
+great a burden on her.
+
+"Why, how can you suppose such a thing, my lady? What can they do to
+me? They will be furiously angry, of course, but the laugh will be
+against them. If the worst comes to the worst they will appeal to the
+captain, and they will get no satisfaction from him. I can take care
+of myself, never fear. You shall hear from Tripoli to the same hotel
+in Marseilles."
+
+"If we go on your letter will follow us. Come back there as soon as
+you possibly can and you will find further instructions. Now it must
+be good-bye, there goes the bell to warn people ashore. One last word:
+I advise you when well out to sea to go to my lord and offer to go
+over to his side and desert me altogether. Tell him you will help him
+to get the child,--that you will put it into his hands indeed,--at a
+price."
+
+"As if I would touch his dirty money, my lady!"
+
+"It will be only spoiling the Egyptians! Squeeze all you can out of
+him, I say. But that is as you please. You know I shall always be your
+firm friend whatever you do, and that I shall never forget what I owe
+you."
+
+I should have said much more, but now the second bell was ringing, and
+if I was to carry out my scheme it was time for me to go.
+
+On leaving the cabin I walked forward along the lower deck seeking
+another issue, the position of which I had fixed the day before,
+having visited the _Oasis_ on purpose. In a minute I had emerged into
+the open air, and found myself in the midst of the sailors sending
+down cargo into the forehold. I should have been utterly confused,
+bewildered, and terrified, but I felt a strong, firm hand close on
+mine, and a quiet, steady voice in my ear.
+
+"This way, Lady Claire, only a couple of steps," said the Colonel as
+he led me to the side of the steamer farthest from the shore. A ladder
+was fixed here and a boat was made fast to the lowest rung. Carefully,
+tenderly guided by my ever trusty henchman I made the descent, took my
+seat in the stern of the small boat, it was cast loose, and we pushed
+off into the waterway. Half an hour later we were back at the Terminus
+Hotel.
+
+For the first time in all that stirring and eventful week I breathed
+freely. At any rate the present peril was overpast, we had eluded
+pursuit, and had a clear time of perfect security to consider our
+situation and look ahead.
+
+As soon as Henriette was visible, I went up to her room to talk
+matters over. She was very humble and apologetic, and disarmed me if I
+had intended to take her to task for all the trouble and anxiety she
+had caused us. But when I magnanimously said, "I am not going to scold
+you," she was in my arms at once.
+
+"Scold me! I should think not! I have been scolded quite enough these
+last twenty-four hours. I never met a man I disliked so much as your
+fine friend, that Colonel Annesley, the rudest, most presuming,
+overbearing wretch. He talked to me and ordered me about as if I was
+still in the schoolroom, he actually dared to find fault with my
+actions, and dictated to me what I should do next. I--I--"
+
+"Did it, Henriette? Like a lamb, eh? That's a way he has, my dear," I
+laughed.
+
+"I don't envy you one bit, Claire. You'll be a miserable woman. You
+hate to give way, and he'll make you. He'll tame you, and lord it over
+you, he'll be a hard, a cruel master, for all he thinks so much of you
+now."
+
+"And does he?" What sweeter music in a woman's ear than to be told of
+the sway she exercises over the man of her choice?
+
+"Why, of course, he thinks all the world of you. He would say nothing,
+decide nothing until you had been consulted. Your word is law to him,
+your name always on his lips. You know of your latest conquest, I
+suppose?"
+
+"There are things one does not care to discuss, my dear, even with
+one's sister," I answered, rather coldly. I was a little hurt by her
+tone and manner, although what she told me gave me exquisite pleasure.
+
+"Come, come," Henriette rallied me. "Make a clean breast of it.
+Confess that you are over head and ears in love with your Colonel. Why
+not? You are free to choose, I was not," and her eyes filled with
+tears at the sad shipwreck of her married life.
+
+I strove hard to calm her, to console her, pointing to her little
+Ralph, and promising her a future of happiness with her child.
+
+"If I am allowed to keep him, yes. But how can I keep him after that
+wicked decision of the Court, and with such a persistent enemy as
+Ralph Blackadder? For the moment we are safe, but by and by he will
+come back, he will leave no stone unturned until he finds me, and I
+shall lose my darling for ever."
+
+The hopelessness of evading pursuit for any time sorely oppressed me,
+too. There seemed no safety but in keeping continually on the move, in
+running to and fro and changing our hiding place so soon as danger of
+discovery loomed near. We were like pariahs ostracized from our
+fellows, wandering Jews condemned to roam on and on, forbidden to
+pause or find peace anywhere.
+
+Yet, after a pleasant _dejeuner_, the three of us held a council of
+war.
+
+"The thing is perfectly simple," said my dear Colonel, in his
+peremptory, but to me reassuring fashion. "I have thought it all out
+and can promise you immediate escape from all your difficulties. You
+must go as quickly as you can get there, to Tangier."
+
+"Tangier!" I cried, amazed.
+
+"Yes, Lady Claire, Tangier. It is the only refuge left for
+criminals--forgive me, I mean no offence," and he laughed heartily as
+he went on. "You have broken the law, you are flying from the law, and
+you are amenable to it all the world over, save and except in Morocco
+alone. You must go to Tangier, there is no extradition, the King's
+warrant does not run there. You will be perfectly safe if you elect to
+stay there, safe for the rest of your days."
+
+"You seem very anxious to get rid of us and bury us at the back of
+beyond," I said, nettled and unable to conceal my chagrin at the
+matter-of-fact way in which he wished to dispose of us.
+
+"I venture to hope I may be permitted to accompany you, and remain
+with you--"
+
+It was now Henriette's turn to laugh outright at this rather blunt
+proposal, and I regret to add that I blushed a rosy red.
+
+"To remain with you and near you so long as my services may be
+required," he went on, gravely, by no means the interpretation my
+sister had put upon his remark; for he fixed his eyes on me with
+unmistakable meaning, and held them so fixedly that I could not look
+away. There could no longer be any doubt how "it stood with us;" my
+heart went out to him then and there, and I nodded involuntarily, more
+in answer to his own thoughts than his suggestion. I knew from the
+gladness on his frank, handsome face that he understood and rejoiced.
+
+"You see," he went on, quickly, dealing with the pressing matter in
+hand, "I know all about the place. I have soldiered at Gibraltar and
+often went over to Africa. It's not half bad, Tangier, decent hotels,
+villas furnished if you prefer it. Sport in the season, and plenty of
+galloping ground. The point is, how we should travel?"
+
+I could be of service in this; my inquiries at Cook's had qualified me
+to act as a shipping clerk, and we soon settled to take a steamer of
+the Bibby Line due that afternoon, which would land us at Gibraltar in
+two or three days. Thence to Tangier was only like crossing a ferry.
+The Colonel's man, l'Echelle, was sent to secure cabins, and we caught
+the ship in due course. Three days later we were soon comfortably
+settled in the Hotel Atlas, just above the wide sweep of sands that
+encircle the bay. It was the season of fierce heat, but we faced the
+northern breezes full of invigorating ozone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+Tangier, the wildest, quaintest, most savage spot on the face of the
+globe, was to me the most enchanting. Our impressions take their
+colour from the passing mood; we like or loathe a place according to
+the temper in which we view it. I was so utterly and foolishly happy
+in this most Eastern city located in the West that I have loved it
+deeply ever since. After the trying and eventful episodes of the past
+week I had passed into a tranquil haven filled with perfect peace. The
+whole tenor of my life had changed, the feverish excitement was gone,
+no deep anxiety vexed or troubled me, all my cares were transferred to
+stronger shoulders than mine. I could calmly await the issue, content
+to enjoy the moment and forget the past like a bad dream.
+
+It was sufficient to bask in the sunshine, revelling in the free air,
+rejoicing in the sweetness of my nascent love. We were much together,
+Basil and I; we walked together, exploring the recesses of the native
+town, and the ancient citadel, with its memories of British dominion;
+we lingered in the Soko or native market, crowded with wild creatures
+from the far interior; we rode together, for his first care was to
+secure horses, and scoured the country as far as the Marshan and Cape
+Spartel. I sometimes reproached myself with being so happy, while my
+darling Henriette still sorrowfully repined at her past, with little
+hope of better days. But even she brightened as the days ran on and
+brought no fresh disquiet, while her boy, sweet little Ralph,
+developed in health and strength.
+
+A week passed thus, a week of unbroken quiet, flawless as the
+unchanging blue of a summer sky; not a cloud in sight, not a suspicion
+of coming disturbance and unrest. It could not go on like this for
+ever. To imagine it was to fall asleep in a fool's paradise, lulled
+into false serenity by the absence of portents so often shrouded and
+unseen until they break upon us.
+
+One day a cablegram reached me from Philpotts. She had arrived at
+Marseilles on her return voyage from Tripoli, and was anxious that I
+should know without delay that we had not shaken off Lord Blackadder.
+They had recrossed the Mediterranean together in the same ship, the
+_Oasis_.
+
+"So far all well," she said, "but am watched closely, will certainly
+follow me--send instructions--better not join you at present."
+
+This message fell on us two poor women like a bolt from the blue.
+Basil looked serious for a moment, but then laughed scornfully.
+
+"His lordship can do us no harm. There is not the slightest fear. He
+may bluster and bully as much as he pleases, or rather, as far as he
+is permitted to go. We will place ourselves under the protection of
+the Moorish bashaw. I always intended that."
+
+"Not seriously?"
+
+"Indeed, yes; I have already consulted our Minister. Sir Arthur is an
+old friend of mine, and he has advised me, privately, of course, and
+unofficially, to be on our guard. He can do nothing for us, but he
+will not act against us. If Lord Blackadder should turn up here, and
+sooner or later he will, most assuredly he will not assist him. He
+promises that. At the same time he can give you no protection. We must
+take care of ourselves."
+
+"You believe that Lord Blackadder will find his way to Tangier?"
+
+"Most certainly. He has Philpotts under his hand, but he would not
+trust only to her. Diligent inquiry at Marseilles would be sure to
+reveal our departure for Gibraltar. He will follow with his men, they
+are well-trained detectives, and it will be mere child's play for them
+to track us to Tangier. You may look for them here any day. We must be
+ready for them at all points."
+
+"There is no saying what Ralph Blackadder may not attempt."
+
+"Indeed, yes, he is equal to anything, guile of course, treachery,
+cunning, stratagem, absolute violence if the opportunity offers. It is
+of the utmost importance not to play into his hands, not to give him
+the smallest chance. The child must be watched continually in the
+house, awake and asleep, wherever he goes and whatever he does."
+
+"Then I think Henriette must be warned not to wander about the town
+and on the sands in the way she's been doing with Victorine and the
+child, all of them on donkey back. I don't think it's at all safe."
+
+But when I cautioned her she was not particularly pleased. Was she to
+have no fresh air, no change of scene? I grudged her the smallest
+pleasure, while I was racing up and down flirting and philandering
+with Basil Annesley all day and every day; she was to sit indoors,
+bored to extinction and suffering torments in the unbearable heat.
+
+Basil and I agreed that it was cruel to restrict her movements even
+with such a good excuse, and had she been willing to accept the
+irksome conditions, which she certainly was not. We arranged a
+surveillance, therefore, unknown to her. The Colonel, his man, or
+myself invariably accompanied her or followed her within eyeshot; and
+we hired two or three stalwart Moors, who were always to be near
+enough to render help if required.
+
+Then came confirmations of our worst fears. L'Echelle, who had been
+unaccountably absent one morning, returned about midday with news from
+the port. Lord Blackadder and his two henchmen had just landed from
+the _Jose Pielago_, the steamer that runs regularly between Cadiz and
+Algeciras, Gibraltar, and Tangier. He had seen them in the
+custom-house, fighting their way through the crowd of ragged Jew
+porters, the Moorish egg merchants, and dealers in luscious fruit.
+They had mounted donkeys, the only means of conveyance in a town with
+no wheeled vehicles; and l'Echelle made us laugh at the sorry picture
+presented by the indignant peer, with his legs dangling down on each
+side of the red leather saddle. Their baggage was also piled on
+donkeys, and the whole procession, familiar enough in the narrow
+streets of Tangier, climbed the hill to the Soko, and made for the
+Shereef Hotel, reputed one of the best in Tangier, and lying outside
+the walls in the immediate neighbourhood of the British Legation.
+
+L'Echelle, who seems an honest, loyal fellow, thought he would serve
+us best by marking them down, and, if possible, renewing his
+acquaintance with the detectives, one or both of whom he knew. After
+hanging about the outside of the hotel, he entered the garden boldly
+and went up to the shady trellised verandah where they were seated
+together, smoking and refreshing themselves after their journey.
+
+L'Echelle was well received. Falfani, my friend of the Calais train,
+believed he had suborned him at Aix, and now hailed his appearance
+with much satisfaction. L'Echelle might again be most useful; at
+least, he could lead them to us, and he wisely decided to let Falfani
+know where we were to be found in Tangier. The fact would surely be
+discovered without him. It was better, he thought, to appear frank,
+and, by instilling confidence, learn all there was to know of their
+plans and movements.
+
+My lord had gone to the Legation, Falfani told him at once,
+bombastically boasting that everything would yield before him. He had
+but to express his wishes, and there would be an end of the hunt. But
+my lord came back in a furious rage, and, regardless of l'Echelle's--a
+comparative stranger's--presence, burst forth into passionate
+complaint against the Minister. He would teach Sir Arthur to show
+proper respect to a peer of the realm; he would cable at once to the
+Foreign Office and insist on this second-rate diplomatist's recall.
+The upshot of it all was that his lordship's demand for help had been
+refused pointblank, and no doubt, after what the Colonel had heard, in
+rather abrupt, outspoken terms.
+
+All this and more l'Echelle brought back to us at the Atlas Hotel. He
+told us at length of the outrageous language Lord Blackadder had used,
+of his horrible threats, how he would leave no stone unturned to
+recover his son and heir; how he would bribe the bashaw, buy the
+Moorish officials, a notoriously venal crew; how he would dog our
+footsteps everywhere, set traps for us, fall upon us unawares; and in
+the last extreme he would attack the hotel and forcibly carry off his
+property. As the fitting end of his violent declamation, Ralph
+Blackadder had left the hotel hurriedly, calling upon his creatures to
+follow him, bent, as it seemed, to perpetrate some mad act.
+
+I confess I shuddered at the thought of this reckless, unprincipled
+man loose about Tangier, vowing vengeance, and resolved to go to any
+lengths to secure it. My dear Basil strove hard to console me with
+brave words inspired by his sturdy, self-reliant spirit.
+
+But even he quailed at the sudden shock that fell upon us at the very
+same moment. Where was Henriette?
+
+After the first excitement, we desired to pass on the news brought by
+l'Echelle to her, and renew our entreaties for extreme caution in her
+comings and goings; and with much misgiving we learnt that she was not
+in the hotel. She had gone out with Victorine and Ralph as usual, but
+unattended by any of us. One Moor, Achmet El Mansur, was with her, we
+were told, but we did not trust him entirely. It had been l'Echelle's
+turn to accompany her, but he had been diverted from his duty by the
+pressing necessity of following Lord Blackadder. Basil and I had
+ridden out quite early on a long expedition, from which we only
+returned when l'Echelle did.
+
+We dismissed our fears, hoping they were groundless, and looking to be
+quite reassured presently when she came back at the luncheon hour.
+
+But one o'clock came, and two, and two-thirty, but not a sign of
+Henriette, nor a word in explanation of her absence.
+
+Could she have fallen a victim to the machinations of Lord Blackadder?
+Was the boy captured and she detained while he was spirited away?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+It was impossible to disassociate Lord Blackadder from Lady
+Henriette's mysterious disappearance, and yet we could hardly believe
+that he could have so quickly accomplished his purpose. We doubted the
+more when the man turned up in person at the Atlas Hotel and had the
+effrontery to ask for her.
+
+Basil went out to him in the outer hall, and, as I listened from
+within, I immediately heard high words. It was like a spark applied to
+tinder; a fierce quarrel blazed up instantly between them.
+
+"How dare you show yourself here?" began Basil Annesley.
+
+"Who are you to prevent me? I come to demand the restoration of that
+which belongs to me. Take my message to those two ladies and say I
+will have my boy," replied my lord.
+
+"Do not try to impose on me, Lord Blackadder. It is the most impudent
+pretence; you know perfectly well he is not here."
+
+"I will not bandy words with you. Go in, you men, both of you, Tiler
+and Falfani, and seize the child. Force your way in, push that
+blackguard aside!" he roared in a perfect paroxysm of passion.
+
+I could not possibly hold aloof, but called for help from the hotel
+people, and, with them at my back, rushed out to add my protest
+against this intemperate conduct.
+
+A free fight had already begun. The three assailants, Ralph Blackadder
+behind egging them on, had thrown themselves upon Basil, who stood
+sturdily at bay with his back to the wall, daring them to come on, and
+prepared to strike out at the first man who touched him.
+
+"At him! Give it him! Throw him out!" cried Ralph passionately. But
+even as he spoke his voice weakened, he halted abruptly; his hands
+went up into the air, his body swayed to and fro, his strength left
+him completely, and he fell to the ground in sudden and complete
+collapse. When they picked him up, there was froth mixed with blood
+upon his lips, he breathed once or twice heavily, stertorously, and
+then with one long-drawn gasp died in the arms of his two men.
+
+It was an apoplectic seizure, the doctors told us later, brought on by
+excessive nervous irritation of the brain.
+
+Here was a sudden and unexpected _denouement_, a terribly dramatic end
+to our troubles if we could but clear up the horrible uncertainty
+remaining.
+
+What had become of my sister and little Ralph?
+
+While the servants of the hotel attended to the stricken man, Basil
+Annesley plied the detectives with eager questions. He urged them to
+tell all they knew; it should be made worth their while; they no
+longer owed allegiance to their late employer. He entreated them to
+withhold nothing. Where and how had Lord Blackadder met Henriette?
+What had he done with her? Where was she now?
+
+We could get nothing out of these men; they refused to answer our
+questions from sheer mulish obstinacy, as we thought at first, but we
+saw at length that they did not understand us. What were we driving
+at? They assured us they had seen no lady, nor had the unfortunate
+peer accosted any one, or interfered with any one on his way between
+the two hotels. He had come straight from the Villa Shereef to the
+Hotel Atlas, racing down at a run, pausing nowhere, addressing no one
+on the road.
+
+If not Lord Blackadder, what then? What could have happened to
+Henriette? Tangier was a wild place enough, but who would interfere
+with an English woman in broad daylight accompanied by her servant, by
+an escort, her attendant Moorish guide? Full of anxiety, Basil called
+for a horse, and was about to ride off to institute a hue and cry,
+when my sister appeared in person upon the scene.
+
+"Getting anxious about me?" she asked, with careless, almost childish
+gaiety. "I am awfully late, but I have had such an extraordinary
+adventure. Why, how serious you look! Not on my account, surely?"
+
+I took her aside, and in a few words told her of the terrible
+catastrophe that had just occurred, and for a time she was silent and
+seemed quite overcome.
+
+"It's too shocking, of course, to happen in this awful way. But
+really, I cannot be very sorry except for one thing--that now he will
+never know."
+
+"Know what, Henriette? Have you taken leave of your senses?"
+
+"Know that I have discovered the whole plot of which I was the
+victim. My dear, I have found Susan Bruel, and she has made a full
+confession. They were bribed to go away, and they have been here
+hiding in Tangier."
+
+"Go on, go on. Tell me, please, all about it."
+
+"You must know we went out, the three of us, on our donkeys, and the
+fancy seized me to explore some of the dark, narrow streets where the
+houses all but join overhead. I got quite frightened at last. I was
+nearly suffocated for want of air. I could not even see the sky, and
+at last desired Achmet to get me out into the open, anywhere. After
+one or two sharp turns, we emerged upon a sort of plateau or terrace
+high above the sea, and in full view of it.
+
+"There was a small hotel in front of it, and above the door was the
+name of the proprietor, would you believe it, Domenico Bruel!
+
+"It was the name of Susan's husband, and no doubt Susan was there. I
+could not quite make up my mind how I should act. I thought of sending
+Achmet back for you or the Colonel, but I could not bear parting with
+him. Then, while I was still hesitating, Susan herself came out and
+rushed across to where I was, with her hands outstretched and fairly
+beside herself, laughing and crying by turns.
+
+"'Oh, my lady! It _is_ you, then? What shall I say to you? How can I
+tell you?' she began, quite hysterically. 'We behaved most
+disgracefully, most wickedly, but indeed it was Domenico's doing. He
+insisted they offered us such a large sum, enough to make us rich for
+life, and so we consented to come away here. I have never had one
+happy moment since. Can you forgive me?'
+
+"All this she poured forth, and much more of the same sort. I could
+see she was truly sorry, and that it had not been entirely her fault.
+Besides, I began to hope already that, how we had found her, we might
+get the case reopened, and that wicked order reversed. It will be put
+right now, now that Ralph can no longer oppose it."
+
+I bowed my head silently, thankful and deeply impressed with the
+strange turn taken by events and the sudden light let in upon the
+darkness that had surrounded us.
+
+The rest of the adventures that began in the sleeping-car between
+Calais and Basle, and came abruptly to an end on the North African
+shore, may soon be told. Our first act was to return to England at
+the very earliest opportunity, and we embarked that evening on a
+Forwood steamer direct for London, which port we reached in less than
+five days.
+
+Town was empty, and we did not linger there. Nothing could be done in
+the Courts, as it was the legal vacation, but Henriette's solicitors
+arranged to send out a commission to take the Bruels' evidence at
+Tangier, and to bring the matter before The President at the earliest
+opportunity.
+
+As for ourselves, I persuaded Henriette to take a cottage at Marlow on
+the Upper Thames, where Colonel Annesley was a constant guest, and
+Charlie Forrester. We four passed many idle halcyon days on the quiet
+river, far from the noise of trains, and content to leave Bradshaw in
+the bottom of the travelling-bag, where it had been thrown at the end
+of our feverish wanderings.
+
+Once again we had recourse to it, however, when we started on our
+honeymoon, Basil and I. Once more we found ourselves at Calais with
+Philpotts, but no encumbrances, bound on a second, a far happier, and
+much less eventful journey by the Engadine express.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
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+of which are in full color                             $2.00
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+
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+by John C. Frohn                                       $1.50
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+
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+in every part; brilliant descriptions entertain the reader; mystic
+scenes and prophecies give a singular fascination to the tale, which
+is strong and forceful in its portrayal."
+
+
+Hester of the Hills. By GROVER CLAY.
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated                          $1.50
+
+"Hester of the Hills" has a motif unusual in life, and new in fiction.
+Its hero, who has only acquired his own strength and resourcefulness
+by a lifelong struggle against constitutional frailty, has come to
+make the question of bodily soundness his dominant thought. He
+resolves to ensure strong constitutions to his children by marrying a
+physically perfect woman. After long search, he finds this ideal in
+Hester, the daughter of a "cracker squatter," of the Ozark Mountains
+of Missouri. But,--he forgot to take into consideration that very
+vital emotion, love, which played havoc with his well-laid plans.
+
+It is an ingenious combination of practical realism and imaginative
+fiction worked out to a thoroughly delightful and satisfying climax.
+
+
+Prisoners of Fortune. A TALE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY
+COLONY. BY RUEL PERLEY SMITH, author of "The Rival
+Campers," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece
+by Frank T. Merrill                                    $1.50
+
+The period of Mr. Smith's story is the beginning of the eighteenth
+century, when the shores of the American colonies were harassed and
+the seas patrolled by pirates and buccaneers. These robbed and
+spoiled, and often seized and put to death, the sailors and fishers
+and other humbler folk, while their leaders claimed friendship alike
+with Southern planters and New England merchants,--with whom it is
+said they frequently divided their spoils.
+
+The times were stern and the colonists were hardy, but they loved as
+truly and tenderly as in more peaceful days. Thus, while the hero's
+adventures with pirates and his search for their hidden treasure is a
+record of desperate encounters and daring deeds, his love-story and
+his winning of sweet Mary Vane is in delightful contrast.
+
+
+The Rome Express. BY MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, author of "The
+Passenger from Calais," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece
+by A.O. Scott                                          $1.25
+
+A mysterious murder on a flying express train, a wily Italian, a
+charming woman caught in the meshes of circumstantial evidence, a
+chivalrous Englishman, and a police force with a keen nose for the
+wrong clue, are the ingredients from which Major Griffiths has
+concocted a clever, up-to-date detective story. The book is bright and
+spirited, with rapid action, and consistent development which brings
+the story to a logical and dramatic ending.
+
+
+The Morning Glory Club. BY GEORGE A. KYLE.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece
+by A.O. Scott                                          $1.25
+
+The doings of the Morning Glory Club will furnish genuine amusement to
+the reader. Originally formed to "elevate" the village, it quickly
+develops into an exchange for town gossip. It has a saving grace,
+however, in the person of motherly Mrs. Stout, the uncultured but
+sweet-natured and pure-minded village philosopher, who pours the oil
+of her saneness and charity on the troubled waters of discussion and
+condemnation.
+
+It is a series of clear and interesting pictures of the humor of
+village life.
+
+
+The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt, Detective. NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION.
+BY ARTHUR MORRISON, author of "The Green Diamond," "The Red Triangle,"
+etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with six full-page drawings
+by W. Kirkpatrick                                      $1.50
+
+The success of Mr. Morrison's recent books, "The Green Diamond" and
+"The Red Triangle," has led to an imperative demand for the reissue of
+"The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt," which has been out of print for a
+number of years.
+
+It will be remembered that Martin Hewitt is the detective in "The Red
+Triangle," of whom the _New York Tribune_ said: "Better than Sherlock
+Holmes." His adventures in the London slums were of such a nature that
+the _Philadelphia North American_ said: "The reader who has a grain of
+fancy or imagination may be defied to lay this book down once he has
+begun it until the last word is reached."
+
+
+Mystery Island. By EDWARD H. HURST.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece          $1.50
+
+A hunting camp on a swampy island in the Florida Everglades furnishes
+the background for this present-day tale.
+
+By the murder of one of their number, the secret of egress from the
+island is lost, and the campers find themselves marooned.
+
+Cut off from civilization, conventional veneer soon wears away. Love,
+hate, and revenge spring up, and after the sterner passions have had
+their sway the man and the woman are left alone to fulfil their own
+destiny.
+
+While there is much that is unusual in the plot and its development,
+Mr. Hurst has handled his subject with fine delicacy, and the tale of
+their love on the beautiful little island is told with deep sympathy
+and feeling.
+
+
+The Flying Cloud. By MORLEY ROBERTS, author of "The
+Promotion of the Admiral," "Rachel Marr," "The Idlers," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece          $1.50
+
+Mr. Roberts's new book is much more than a ripping good sea story such
+as might be expected from the author of "The Promotion of the
+Admiral." In "The Flying Cloud" the waters and the winds are gods
+personified. Their every mood and phase are described in words of
+telling force. There is no world but the waste of waters.
+
+Mr. Roberts glories and exults in the mystery, the passion, the
+strength of the elements, as did the Viking chroniclers of old. He
+understands them and loves them and interprets them as no other writer
+has heretofore done. The book is too big for conventional phrases. It
+needs Mr. Roberts's own richness of imagery and masterly expression to
+describe adequately the word-pictures in this epic of wind and waves.
+
+
+
+
+Selections from
+L.C. Page and Company's
+List of Fiction
+
+WORKS OF
+ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS
+
+_Each one vol., library 12mo, cloth decorative         $1.50_
+
+
+The Flight of Georgiana
+
+A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF THE YOUNG PRETENDER. Illustrated by
+H.C. Edwards.
+
+"A love-story in the highest degree, a dashing story, and a remarkably
+well finished piece of work."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Bright Face of Danger
+
+Being an account of some adventures of Henri de Launay, son of the
+Sieur de la Tournoire. Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.
+
+"Mr. Stephens has fairly outdone himself. We thank him heartily. The
+story is nothing if not spirited and entertaining, rational and
+convincing."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+The Mystery of Murray Davenport (40th thousand.)
+
+"This is easily the best thing that Mr. Stephens has yet done. Those
+familiar with his other novels can best judge the measure of this
+praise, which is generous."--_Buffalo News._
+
+
+Captain Ravenshaw
+
+OR, THE MAID OF CHEAPSIDE. (52d thousand.) A romance of Elizabethan
+London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and other artists.
+
+Not since the absorbing adventures of D'Artagnan have we had anything
+so good in the blended vein of romance and comedy.
+
+
+The Continental Dragoon
+
+A ROMANCE OF PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE IN 1778. (53d thousand.)
+Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.
+
+A stirring romance of the Revolution, with its scene laid on neutral
+territory.
+
+
+Philip Winwood (70th thousand.)
+
+A Sketch of the Domestic History of an American Captain in the War
+of Independence, embracing events that occurred between and during
+the years 1763 and 1785 in New York and London. Illustrated by
+E.W.D. Hamilton.
+
+
+An Enemy to the King (70th thousand.)
+
+From the "Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de
+la Tournoire." Illustrated by H. De M. Young.
+
+An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing the
+adventures of a young French nobleman at the court of Henry III., and
+on the field with Henry IV.
+
+
+The Road to Paris
+
+A STORY OF ADVENTURE. (35th thousand.)
+Illustrated by H.C. Edwards.
+
+An historical romance of the eighteenth century, being an account of
+the life of an American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite ancestry.
+
+
+A Gentleman Player
+
+HIS ADVENTURES ON A SECRET MISSION FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH. (48th
+thousand.)
+Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+The story of a young gentleman who joins Shakespeare's company of
+players, and becomes a friend and protege of the great poet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS
+
+
+Red Fox
+
+THE STORY OF HIS ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK WILDS, AND OF
+HIS FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF HIS KIND. With fifty
+illustrations, including frontispiece in color and cover design by
+Charles Livingston Bull.
+
+Square quarto, cloth decorative                        $2.00
+
+"Infinitely more wholesome reading than the average tale of sport,
+since it gives a glimpse of the hunt from the point of view of the
+hunted."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+"True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will interest old
+and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know animals and
+those who do not."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+"A brilliant chapter in natural history."--_Philadelphia North
+American._
+
+
+The Kindred of the Wild
+
+A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates and
+many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull.
+
+Square quarto, decorative cover                        $2.00
+
+"Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal stories that
+has appeared; well named and well done."--_John Burroughs._
+
+
+The Watchers of the Trails
+
+A companion volume to "The Kindred of the Wild." With forty-eight
+full-page plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles
+Livingston Bull.
+
+Square quarto, decorative cover                        $2.00
+
+"These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust in
+their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. Among
+the many writers about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable
+place.--_The Outlook_.
+
+"This is a book full of delight. An additional charm lies in Mr.
+Bull's faithful and graphic illustrations, which in fashion all their
+own tell the story of the wild life, illuminating and supplementing
+the pen pictures of the author."--_Literary Digest._
+
+
+The Heart That Knows
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"A novel of singularly effective strength, luminous in literary color,
+rich in its passionate, yet tender drama."--_New York Globe._
+
+
+Earth's Enigmas
+
+A new edition of Mr. Roberts's first volume of fiction, published in
+1892, and out of print for several years, with the addition of three
+new stories, and ten illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull. Library
+12mo, cloth, decorative cover                          $1.50
+
+"It will rank high among collections of short stories. In 'Earth's
+Enigmas' is a wider range of subject than in the 'Kindred of the
+Wild.'"--_Review from advance sheets of the illustrated edition by
+Tiffany Blake in the Chicago Evening Post._
+
+
+Barbara Ladd
+
+With four illustrations by Frank Verbeck.
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"From the opening chapter to the final page Mr. Roberts lures us on by
+his rapt devotion to the changing aspects of Nature and by his keen
+and sympathetic analysis of human character."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+Cameron of Lochiel
+
+Translated from the French of Philippe Aubert de Gaspe, with
+frontispiece in color by H.C. Edwards.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"Professor Roberts deserves the thanks of his reader for giving a
+wider audience an opportunity to enjoy this striking bit of French
+Canadian literature."--_Brooklyn Eagle._
+
+"It is not often in these days of sensational and philosophical novels
+that one picks up a book that so touches the heart."--_Boston
+Transcript._
+
+
+The Prisoner of Mademoiselle
+With frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, gilt top               $1.50
+
+A tale of Acadia,--a land which is the author's heart's delight,--of a
+valiant young lieutenant and a winsome maiden, who first captures and
+then captivates.
+
+"This is the kind of a story that makes one grow younger, more
+innocent, more light-hearted. Its literary quality is impeccable. It
+is not every day that such a heroine blossoms into even temporary
+existence, and the very name of the story bears a breath of
+charm."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Heart of the Ancient Wood
+With six illustrations by James L. Weston.
+
+Library 12mo, decorative cover                         $1.50
+
+"One of the most fascinating novels of recent days."--_Boston
+Journal._
+
+"A classic twentieth-century romance."--_New York Commercial
+Advertiser._
+
+
+The Forge in the Forest
+
+Being the Narrative of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, Seigneur de
+Briart, and how he crossed the Black Abbe, and of his adventures in a
+strange fellowship. Illustrated by Henry Sandham, R.C.A.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top                          $1.50
+
+A story of pure love and heroic adventure.
+
+
+By the Marshes of Minas
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated             $1.50
+
+Most of these romances are in the author's lighter and more playful
+vein; each is a unit of absorbing interest and exquisite workmanship.
+
+
+A Sister to Evangeline
+
+Being the Story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into exile
+with the villagers of Grand Pre.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated             $1.50
+
+Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep passion, and
+searching analysis characterize this strong novel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+LILIAN BELL
+
+
+Carolina Lee
+With a frontispiece in color from an oil painting by Dora Wheeler
+Keith.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"A Christian Science novel, full of action, alive with incident and
+brisk with pithy dialogue and humor."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing
+as a breeze that blows through a pine forest."--_Albany Times-Union._
+
+
+Hope Loring
+Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"Tall, slender, and athletic, fragile-looking, yet with nerves and
+sinews of steel under the velvet flesh, frank as a boy and tender and
+beautiful as a woman, free and independent, yet not bold--such is
+'Hope Loring,' by long odds the subtlest study that has yet been made
+of the American girl."--_Dorothy Dix, in the New York American._
+
+
+Abroad with the Jimmies
+With a portrait, in duogravure, of the author.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"Full of ozone, of snap, of ginger, of swing and momentum."--_Chicago
+Evening Post._
+
+
+At Home with the Jardines
+A companion volume to "Abroad with the Jimmies."
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"Bits of gay humor, sunny, whimsical philosophy, and keen indubitable
+insight into the less evident aspects and workings of pure human
+nature, with a slender thread of a cleverly extraneous love story,
+keep the interest of the reader fresh."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Interference of Patricia
+With a frontispiece from drawing by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                    $1.25
+
+"There is life and action and brilliancy and dash and cleverness and a
+keen appreciation of business ways in this story."--_Grand Rapids
+Herald_.
+
+"A story full of keen and flashing satire."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+A Book of Girls
+With a frontispiece.
+
+Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                    $1.25
+
+"The stories are all eventful and have effective humor."--_New York
+Sun._
+
+"Lilian Bell surely understands girls, for she depicts all the
+variations of girl nature so charmingly."--_Chicago Journal._
+
+_The above two volumes boxed in special holiday dress,
+ per set,                                              $2.50_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+ALICE MacGOWAN AND GRACE MacGOWAN COOKE
+
+
+Return
+
+A STORY OF THE SEA ISLANDS IN 1739. With six illustrations by
+C.D. Williams.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+"So rich in color is this story, so crowded with figures, it seems
+like a bit of old Italian wall painting, a piece of modern tapestry,
+rather than a modern fabric woven deftly from the threads of fact and
+fancy gathered up in this new and essentially practical country, and
+therein lies its distinctive value and excellence."--_N.Y. Sun._
+
+"At once tender, thrilling, picturesque, philosophical, and dramatic.
+One of the most delightful romances we have had in many a
+day."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+The Grapple
+With frontispiece in color by Arthur W. Brown.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"The movement of the tale is swift and dramatic. The story is so
+original, so strong, and so finely told that it deserves a large and
+thoughtful public. It is a book to read with both enjoyment and
+enlightenment."--_N.Y. Times Saturday Review of Books._
+
+
+The Last Word
+Illustrated with seven portraits of the heroine.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover                  $1.50
+
+"When one receives full measure to overflowing of delight in a tender,
+charming, and wholly fascinating new piece of fiction, the enthusiasm
+is apt to come uppermost."--_Louisville Post._
+
+
+Huldah
+With illustrations by Fanny Y. Cory.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+Here we have the great-hearted, capable woman of the Texas plains
+dispensing food and genial philosophy to rough-and-ready cowboys. Her
+sympathy takes the form of happy laughter, and her delightfully funny
+phrases amuse the fancy and stick in one's memory.
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+MORLEY ROBERTS
+
+
+Rachel Marr
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"A novel of tremendous force, with a style that is sure, luxuriant,
+compelling, full of color and vital force."--_Elia W. Peattie, in
+Chicago Tribune._
+
+"In atmosphere, if nothing else, the story is absolutely
+perfect."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+Lady Penelope
+With nine illustrations by Arthur W. Brown.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"A fresh and original bit of comedy as amusing as it is
+audacious."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+The Idlers
+With frontispiece in color by John C. Frohn.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"In 'The Idlers' Mr. Morley Roberts does for the smart set of London
+what Mrs. Wharton has done in 'The House of Mirth' for the American
+social class of the same name.... It is a powerful novel, a merciless
+dissection of modern society similar to that which a skilled surgeon
+would make of a pathological case."--_The London Literary World._
+
+"It is as absorbing as the devil. Mr. Roberts gives us the antithesis
+of 'Rachel Marr' in an equally masterful and convincing work."--_The
+New York Sun._
+
+"It is a work of great ethical force."--_Professor Charles G.D.
+Roberts._
+
+
+The Promotion of the Admiral
+
+By MORLEY ROBERTS.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated            $1.50
+
+"If any one writes better sea stories than Mr. Roberts, we don't know
+who it is; and if there is a better sea story of its kind than this it
+would be a joy to have the pleasure of reading it."--_New York Sun._
+
+"There is a hearty laugh in everyone of these stories."--_The
+Reader._
+
+"To read these stories is a tonic for the mind; the stories are gems,
+and for pith and vigor of description they are unequalled."--_N.Y.
+Commercial Advertiser._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+STEPHEN CONRAD
+
+
+The Second Mrs. Jim
+
+By STEPHEN CONRAD. With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery.
+
+Large 16mo, cloth decorative                           $1.00
+
+Here is a character as original and witty as "Mr. Dooley" or "the
+self-made merchant." The realm of humorous fiction is now invaded by
+the stepmother.
+
+"It is an exceptionally clever piece of work."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+"'The Second Mrs. Jim' is worth as many Mrs. Wiggses as could be
+crowded into the Cabbage Patch. The racy humor and cheerfulness and
+wisdom of the book make it wholly delightful."--_Philadelphia Press._
+
+
+Mrs. Jim and Mrs. Jimmie
+With a frontispiece in colors by Arthur W. Brown.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+This book is in a sense a sequel to "The Second Mrs. Jim," since it
+gives further glimpses of that delightful stepmother and her
+philosophy.
+
+"Plenty of fun and humor in this book. Plenty of simple pathos and
+quietly keen depiction of human nature afford contrast, and every
+chapter is worth reading. It is a very human account of life in a
+small country town, and the work should be commended for those
+sterling qualities of heart and naturalness so endearing to
+many."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+ARTHUR MORRISON
+
+
+The Green Diamond
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with six illustrations $1.50
+
+"A detective story of unusual ingenuity and intrigue."--_Brooklyn
+Eagle._
+
+
+The Red Triangle
+
+Being some further chronicles of Martin Hewitt, investigator.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+"Better than Sherlock Holmes."--_New York Tribune._
+
+"The reader who has a grain of fancy or imagination may be defied to
+lay this book down, once he has begun it, until the last word has been
+reached."--_Philadelphia North American._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+G. SIDNEY PATERNOSTER
+
+
+The Motor Pirate
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with frontispiece      $1.50
+
+"Its originality, exciting adventures, into which is woven a charming
+love theme, and its undercurrent of fun furnish a dashing detective
+story which a motor-mad world will thoroughly enjoy reading."--_Boston
+Herald._
+
+
+The Cruise of the Motor-Boat Conqueror
+
+Being the Further Adventures of the Motor Pirate.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece
+by Frank T. Merrill                                    $1.50
+
+"As a land pirate Mannering was a marvel of resource, but as a
+sea-going buccaneer he is almost a miracle of devilish ingenuity. His
+exploits are wonderful and plausible, for he avails himself of every
+modern device and applies recent inventions to the accomplishment of
+all his pet schemes."--_Chicago Evening Post._
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+T. JENKINS HAINS
+
+
+The Black Barque
+With five illustrations by W. Herbert Dunton.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+According to a high naval authority, whose name must be withheld, this
+is one of the best sea stories ever offered to the public. "The Black
+Barque" is a story of slavery and piracy upon the high seas about
+1815, and is written with a thorough knowledge of deep-water sailing.
+
+
+The Windjammers
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+"A collection of short sea stories unmatched for interest."--_New York
+Sun._
+
+
+The Voyage of the Arrow
+With six illustrations by H.C. Edwards.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth                                    $1.50
+
+"A capital story, full of sensation and excitement, and a rollicking
+sea story of the good old-fashioned sort. The reader who begins this
+exciting voyage will sail on at the rate of twelve knots an hour until
+it is finished."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WORKS OF
+REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN
+
+
+Miss Frances Baird, Detective
+
+A PASSAGE FROM HER MEMOIRS.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece
+by W.F. Kirkpatrick                                    $1.25
+
+"Miss Baird ravels and unravels circumstantial evidence in her search
+for the murderer in a most bewildering and thoroughly feminine
+fashion.... The story is brimful of excitement, and no little
+ingenuity is displayed in its construction."--_Boston Herald._
+
+
+Jarvis of Harvard
+Illustrated by Robert Edwards.
+
+Library 12mo, cloth decorative                         $1.50
+
+A strong and well written novel, dealing with the life of a young man
+in a modern college. Studies, athletics, social life, and the outside
+influences surrounding the youth of a college town are clearly
+depicted.
+
+"Mr. Kauffman's treatment of his subject is dignified, restrained,
+sincere, and in admirable good taste throughout."--_New York Mail and
+Express._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Passenger from Calais, by Arthur Griffiths
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSENGER FROM CALAIS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 16339.txt or 16339.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/3/16339/
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
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