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.