About ten days afterwards I one morning received by post a brief note
from Guertin, written from the Préfecture in Paris, urging me to go at
once to the Victoria Hotel at Varenna, on the Lake of Como, where, if
I waited in the name of Brown, my patience would be rewarded.
And there, sure enough, six days later, as I sat one evening in my
private sitting-room, the door suddenly opened and my well-beloved, in
a dark travelling gown, sprang forward and embraced me, sobbing for
very joy.
Can I adequately describe the happiness of that reunion. Of what I
uttered I have no recollection, for I held her closely in my arms as I
kissed her hot tears away.
A man stood by--a tall, silent, gentlemanly man, whose hair was grey,
and whose face as he advanced beneath the strong light showed traces
of disguise.
"I am Philip Poland--Sonia's father," he exclaimed in a low voice.
Whereupon I took the hand of the escaped prisoner, and expressed the
utmost satisfaction at that meeting, for he had risked his liberty to
come there to me.
"Sonia has told me everything," he said; "and I can only regret that
those blackguards have treated you and her as they have. But Guertin,
who is a humane man, even though he be a detective, has tracked them
down, and only yesterday I heard Du Cane--the man who made that false
charge against myself, and stepped into my shoes; the man who intended
that my poor girl should marry that young scoundrel Forbes--has been
discovered in Breslau, and is being extradited to England."
"On the night of your arrest, Mr. Poland, a mystery occurred," I said
presently, as we sat together exchanging many confidences, as I held
my dear wife's soft little hand in mine.
"Yes," he replied. "It was only while I was out at Devil's Island that
I learnt the truth. Du Cane, intending to get me out of the way, hit
upon a very ingenious plan of sending a man made up as Guertin--whom I
only knew by sight--to see me and suggest suicide rather than arrest.
This man--a person named Lefevre--came and made the suggestion. He did
not know that Du Cane had written anonymously to the Préfecture, and
never dreamed that Guertin himself would follow him so quickly. On
leaving, he apparently hung about watching the result of his dastardly
mission, when Harriman--or Bell as we knew him--walked up the drive,
in order to call in secret upon me. He espied a man whom he recognized
as Guertin peering in at the window, and, creeping up behind him,
struck him down before he could utter a word. Afterwards he slipped
away, believing that he had killed our arch-enemy, the chief of the
_sûreté_. Presently, however, the body of the unfortunate Lefevre was
found by Guertin himself, who had come to arrest me."
"And Harriman admitted this!" I exclaimed.
"Yes. He admitted it to me upon his death-bed. He died of fever a week
before I made my dash for liberty. But," he added, "Sonia has told me
of that dastardly attempt which those hell-fiends Reckitt and Forbes
made upon you in Porchester Terrace, and how they also tortured her.
But they were fortunately alarmed and fled precipitately, leaving
Sonia unconscious."
"Yes," declared my sweet wife. "When I came to myself I recollected,
in horror, what they had told me concerning the fate to which they had
abandoned you in the adjoining room, and with a great effort managed
to free myself and seek you. I cut the straps which bound you, and
succeeded in killing the snake just in time to save you. Then I stole
away and left, fearing that you might suspect me of having had some
hand in the affair."
"And you saved my life, darling!" I exclaimed, kissing her fondly on
the lips.