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.