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."