Even to Chester there was something grateful in the sudden stillness in
which he and the three others found themselves on leaving the Casino.
"Not a very safe issue out of a place where people carry about such a lot
of money!" he exclaimed, as they made their way up the rough little lane.
"One could half-throttle anyone here, and have a very good chance of
getting off!"
"Oh, Lacville is a very safe place!" answered Madame Wachner, laughing
her jovial laugh. "Still, considering all the money made by the Casino,
it is too bad they 'aven't made a more splendid--what do you call it--?"
"--Approach," said L'Ami Fritz, in his deep voice, and Chester turned,
rather surprised. It was the first word he had heard Monsieur Wachner
utter.
Sylvia was trying hard to forget Count Paul and his broken promise, and
to be her natural self.
As they emerged into the better-lighted thoroughfare, where stood a row
of carriages, she said, "I will drive with you to the Pension Malfait,
Bill."
Madame Wachner officiously struck in, "Do not think of driving your
friend to the Pension Malfait, dear friend! We will gladly leave Mr.
Chester there. But if 'e does not mind we will walk there; it is too fine
a night for driving."
"But how about your luggage?" said Sylvia, anxiously. "Has your luggage
gone on to the Pension?"
"Yes," said Chester, shortly. "Your landlord very kindly said he would
see to its being sent on."
They were now close to the Villa du Lac. "Of course, I shall expect you
to lunch to-morrow," said Sylvia. "Twelve o'clock is the time. You'll
want a good rest after your long day."
And then Chester started off with his two strange companions. How very
unlike this evening had been to what he had pictured it would be! Years
before, as a boy, he had spent a week at a primitive seaside hotel near
Dieppe. He had thought Lacville would be like that. He had imagined
himself arriving at a quiet, rural, little country inn, and had seen
himself kindly, if a little shyly, welcomed by Sylvia. He could almost
have laughed at the contrast between the place his fancy had painted and
the place he had found, at what he had thought would happen, and at what
had happened!
As they trudged along, Chester, glancing to his right, saw that there
were still a great many boats floating on the lake. Did Lacville folk
never go to bed?
"Yes," said Madame Wachner, quickly divining his thoughts, "some of the
people 'ere--why, they stay out on the water all night! Then they catch
the early train back to Paris in the morning, and go and work all day.
Ah, yes, it is indeed a splendid thing to be young!"
She sighed, a long, sentimental sigh, and looked across, affectionately,
at L'Ami Fritz.
"I do not feel my youth to be so very far away," she said. "But then, the
people in my dear country are not cynical as are the French!"
Her husband strode forward in gloomy silence, probably thinking over the
money he might have made or lost had he played that evening, instead of
only noting down the turns of the game.
Madame Wachner babbled on, making conversation for Chester.
She was trying to find out something more about this quiet Englishman.
Why had he come to Lacville? How long was he going to stay here? What was
his real relation to Sylvia Bailey?
Those were the questions that the pretty English widow's new friend
was asking herself, finding answers thereto which were unsatisfactory,
because vague and mysterious.
At last she ventured a direct query.
"Are you going to stay long in this beautiful place, Monsieur?"
"I don't know," said Chester shortly. "I don't suppose I shall stay very
long. I'm going on to Switzerland. How long I stay will a little bit
depend on Mrs. Bailey's plans. I haven't had time to ask her anything
yet. What sort of a place is the Villa du Lac?"
He asked the question abruptly; he was already full of dislike and
suspicion of everything, though not of everybody, at Lacville. These
Wachners were certainly nice, simple people.
"Oh, the Villa du Lac is a very respectable 'ouse," said Madame Wachner
cautiously. "It is full of respectable--what do you call them?--dowagers.
Oh, you need have no fear for your friend, sir; she is quite safe there.
And you know she does not often go to the Casino"--she told the lie with
bold deliberation. Some instinct told her that while Chester was at
Lacville Sylvia would not go to the Casino as often as she had been in
the habit of doing.
There was a pause--and then again Madame Wachner asked the Englishman a
question:
"Perhaps you will go on to Switzerland, leaving Mrs. Bailey here, and
then come back for her?"
"Perhaps I shall," he said heavily, without really thinking of what he
was saying.
They were now walking along broad, shady roads which reminded him of
those in a well-kept London suburb. Not a sound issued from any of the
houses which stood in gardens on either side, and in the moonlight he saw
that they were all closely shuttered. It might almost have been a little
township of empty houses.
Again the thought crossed his mind what a dangerous place these lonely
roads might be to a man carrying a lot of gold and notes on his person.
They had not met a single policeman, or, indeed, anyone, after they had
left the side of the lake.
At last Madame Wachner stopped short before a large wooden door.
'"Ere we are!" she said briskly. "I presume they are expecting you, sir?
If they are not expecting you, they will probably 'ave all gone to bed.
So we will wait, will we not, Ami Fritz, and see this gentleman safe in?
If the worst came to the worst, you could come with us to our villa and
sleep there the night."
"You are awfully kind!" said Chester heartily--and, indeed, he did feel
this entire stranger's kindness exceptional.
How fortunate that Sylvia had come across such a nice, simple, kindly
woman in such a queer place as Lacville!
But Madame Wachner's good-natured proposal had never to be seriously
considered, for when her vigorous hand found and pulled the bell there
came sounds in the courtyard beyond, and a moment later the door swung
open.
"Who's there?" cried M. Malfait in a loud voice.
"It is the English gentleman, Mrs. Bailey's friend," said Madame Wachner
quickly; and at once the Frenchman's voice softened.
"Ah! we had quite given up M'sieur," he said amiably. "Come in, come in!
Yes, the bag has arrived; but people often send their luggage before they
come themselves. Just as they sometimes leave their luggage after they
themselves have departed!"
Chester was shaking hands cordially with the Wachners.
"Thank you for all your kindness," he said heartily. "I hope we shall
meet again soon! I shall certainly be here for some days. Perhaps you
will allow me to call on you?"
Once the good-natured couple had walked off arm in arm into the night,
the door of the Pension Malfait was locked and barred, and Chester
followed his landlord into the long, dark house.
"One has to be careful. There are so many queer characters about," said
M. Malfait; and then, "Will M'sieur have something to eat? A little
refreshment, a bottle of lemonade, or of pale ale? We have splendid
Bass's ale," he said, solicitously.
But the Englishman shook his head, smiling. "Oh, no," he said slowly, in
his bad French, "I dined in Paris. All I need now is a good night's
rest."
"And that M'sieur will certainly have," said the landlord civilly.
"Lacville is famous for its sleep-producing qualities. That is why so
many Parisians content themselves with coming here instead of going
further afield."
They were walking through the lower part of the house, and then suddenly
M. Malfait exclaimed, "I was forgetting the bath-room! I know how
important to English gentlemen the bath-room is!"
The pleasant vista of a good hot bath floated before Chester's weary
brain and body. Really the house was not as primitive as he had thought
it when he had seen the landlord come forward with a candle.
M. Malfait turned round and flung open a door.
"It was an idea of my wife's," he said proudly. "You see, M'sieur, the
apartment serves a double purpose--"
And it did! For the odd little room into which Chester was shown by his
host served as store cupboard as well as bath-room. It was lined with
shelves on which stood serried rows of pots of home-made jam, jars of oil
and vinegar, and huge tins of rice, vermicelli, and tapioca, in a corner
a round zinc basin--but a basin of Brobdignagian size--stood under a cold
water tap.
"The bath is for those of our visitors who do not follow the regular
hydropathic treatment for which Lacville is still famous," said the
landlord pompously. "But I must ask M'sieur not to fill the bath too
full, for it is a great affair to empty it!"
He shut the door carefully, and led the way upstairs.
"Here we are," he whispered at last. "I hope M'sieur will be satisfied.
This is a room which was occupied by a charming Polish lady, Madame
Wolsky, who was a friend of M'sieur's friend, Madame Bailey. But she left
suddenly a week ago, and so we have the room at M'sieur's disposal."
He put the candle down, and bowed himself out of the room.
Chester looked round the large, bare sleeping chamber in which he found
himself with the agreeable feeling that his long, hot, exciting day was
now at an end.
Yes, it was a pleasant room--bare, and yet furnished with everything
essential to comfort. Thus there was a good big, roomy arm-chair, a
writing-table, and a clock, of which the hands now pointed to a quarter
to one o'clock.
The broad, low bed, pushed back into an alcove as is the French fashion,
looked delightfully cool and inviting by the light of his one candle.
When M. Malfait had shown him into the room the window was wide open to
the hot, starless night, but the landlord, though he had left the window
open, had drawn the thick curtains across it. That was all right; Chester
had no wish to be wakened at five in the morning by the sunlight
streaming into the room. He meant to have a really long rest. He was
too tired to think--too tired to do anything but turn in.
And then an odd thing happened. Chester's brain was so thoroughly awake,
he had become so over-excited, that he could not, try as he might, fall
asleep.
He lay awake tossing about hour after hour. And then, when at last he did
fall into a heavy, troubled slumber, he was disturbed by extraordinary
and unpleasant dreams--nightmares in which Sylvia Bailey seemed to play
a part.
At last he roused himself and pulled back the curtains from across the
window. It was already dawn, but he thought the cool morning air might
induce sleep, and for a while, lying on his side away from the light, he
did doze lightly.
Quite suddenly he was awakened by the sensation, nay, the knowledge, that
there was someone in the room! So vivid was this feeling of unwished-for
companionship that he got up and looked in the shadowed recess of the
alcove in which stood his bed; but, of course, there was no one there.
In fact there would not have been space there for any grown-up person to
squeeze into.
He told himself that what he had heard--if he had heard anything--was
someone bringing him his coffee and rolls, and that the servant had
probably been trying to attract his attention, for, following his prudent
custom, he had locked his door the night before.
He unlocked the door and looked out, staring this way and that along the
empty passage. But no, in spite of the now-risen sun, it was still early
morning; the Pension Malfait was sunk in sleep.
Chester went back to bed. He felt tired, disturbed, uneasy; sleep was out
of the question; so he lay back, and with widely-open eyes, began to
think of Sylvia Bailey and of the strange events of the night before.
He lived again the long hour he had spent at the Casino. He could almost
smell the odd, sweet, stuffy smell of the Baccarat Room, and there rose
before him its queer, varied inmates. He visioned distinctly Sylvia
Bailey as he had suddenly seen her, sitting before the green cloth,
with her money piled up before her, and a look of eager interest and
absorption on her face.
There had always been in Sylvia something a little rebellious, a touch of
individuality which made her unlike the other women he knew, and which
fascinated and attracted him. She was a woman who generally knew her own
mind, and who had her own ideas of right and wrong. Lying there, he
remembered how determined she had been about those pearls....
Chester's thoughts took a softer turn. How very, very pretty she had
looked last evening--more than pretty--lovelier than he had ever seen
her. There seemed to be new depths in her blue eyes.
But Chester was shrewd enough to know that Sylvia had felt ashamed to be
caught by him gambling--gambling, too, in such very mixed company. Well,
she would soon be leaving Lacville! What a pity those friends of hers had
given up their Swiss holiday! It would have been so jolly if they could
have gone on there together.
He got tired of lying in bed. What a long night, as well as a very
short night, it had been! He rose and made his way down to the primitive
bath-room. It would be delightful to have any sort of bath, and the huge
zinc basin had its points--
As Chester went quickly back to his room, instead of feeling refreshed
after his bath, he again experienced the disagreeable sensation that he
was not alone. This time he felt as if he were being accompanied by an
invisible presence. It was a very extraordinary and a most unpleasant
feeling, one which Chester had never experienced before, and it made him
afraid--afraid he knew not of what.
Being the manner of man he was, he began to think that he must be
ill--that there must be something the matter with his nerves. Had he been
at home, in Market Dalling, he would have gone to a doctor without loss
of time.
Long afterwards, when people used to speak before him of haunted houses,
Bill Chester would remember the Pension Malfait and the extraordinary
sensations he had experienced there--sensations the more extraordinary
that there was nothing to account for them.
But Chester never told anyone of his experiences, and indeed there was
nothing to tell. He never saw anything, he never even heard anything, but
now and again, especially when he was lying awake at night and in the
early morning, the lawyer felt as if some other entity was struggling to
communicate with him and could not do so....
The whole time he was there--and he stayed on at Lacville, as we shall
see, rather longer than he at first intended--Chester never felt, when in
his room at the Pension Malfait really alone, and sometimes the
impression became almost intolerably vivid.