A quarter of an hour passed, but the spy of Austria did not return.
Both Waldron and the detective stood in wonder near the door conversing
in low whispers.
Nearly half an hour went by, and they could only hear Her Highness
pacing the room in her mad despair. Yet Flobecq had not returned.
"Is it possible that he could have overheard my threat of vengeance!"
exclaimed the Englishman to his companion. "Has he suspected that the
conversation has been heard and left the hotel?"
"_Madonna mia_! He may have done, signore," Pucci replied. "He is a
most alert person."
"Go out and make inquiry. I will remain here. He knows me."
"He knows me also," laughed the Italian. "I kept observation upon him
once in Livorno, where he was conducting some negotiations regarding the
purchase of plans of two of our battleships being built in Orlando's
yard. That is why I have recognised him. He scented danger on that
occasion and fled."
"Just as he has now done, I fear," said Hubert. "Go quickly and make
inquiries."
Ten minutes later the brigadier re-entered and said excitedly:
"He's gone! He had a motor-car awaiting him round in the Via del Duomo.
It was a strange car, a long, grey, open one, they say. It had been
waiting an hour. The chauffeur was a Frenchman. They left by the Porta
Maggiore, and have evidently taken the direction of Bolsena. He took
his hand-bag with him, and left a fifty-lire note for his hotel bill."
"Then he must have overheard me!" gasped Waldron dismayed. "By Jove!
he's got away, and with the Princess's letters in his possession. What
bad luck!"
By this time, of course, Pucci was aware of the whole circumstances.
Hubert Waldron was a man of action. Without a second's hesitation he
rapped at the door of the next room, and confronting Lola, who almost
fainted at his sudden and unexpected appearance, explained how he had
followed her, and listened to the tragic story as revealed by her
conversation with the notorious Mijoux Flobecq.
"Then you know, Mr Waldron! _You know all_!" she gasped, her face pale
as death.
"Everything," he answered hastily. They were alone together, for Pucci
had gone out to hire a car. "But I have no time to lose. The spy has
escaped us, and we must follow instantly if we are to be successful in
preventing this exposure. Return at once to Rome, and behave just as
though nothing whatever had happened. Trust in me, Lola," he said, and
looking straight into her eyes he took her small hand gently in his, and
raised it in reverence to his lips.
"Yes," she whispered in a low, intense voice. "You are my only friend,
Mr Waldron. I will put my entire trust in you."
"Then _addio_--for the present," he said hastily. "I have not a second
to spare. I will do all I can to save you from exposure and scandal,
Lola. So remain calm, and leave all to me."
"I do--I do," she answered frantically. "Ah! what should I do at this
moment without your kind aid?"
"No, no," he protested, again bowing and kissing her hand in his courtly
manner.
He dared not kiss her upon the lips, though he was sorely tempted.
"Au revoir," he said. "Return to Rome as soon as ever you can, I beg of
you. Fear nothing from either Ghelardi or this spy who has vanished."
And he hurried out, down the wide stone stairs of the great prison-like
old palace, a fortress in the days of the Cinquecento, but now turned
into an _albergo_.
Pucci stood below. A car would be round in ten minutes--the best and
most powerful he could obtain. But of hire cars in the remote town of
Orvieto not much could be expected, therefore when half an hour later
they found themselves speeding in the twilight through the hills and
dales of the white, dusty road towards the Lake of Bolsena they were not
surprised to find that the engine had a nasty knock, and its firing
distinctly bad.
The chauffeur, a dark, beetle-browed young man of the debonair
_giovanotto_ type, had, however, entered fully into the spirit of the
chase, and was travelling with all speed, following the tracks of
Flobecq's car, which could be distinctly discerned in the thick white
dust.
In the little town of Bolsena, beside the lake, they ascertained that a
grey car had come swiftly through, and had turned to the right at the
water's edge, taking the road which at the end of the lake branched in
two directions, one leading westwards to the sea at Orbetello,
forty-five miles or so as the crow flics, or about ninety by road, while
the other led direct north, the highway to Siena and Firenze.
It had now grown too dark to see the tracks in the dust, therefore
taking their head-lamps they made careful examination of the road, but,
alas! upon both they saw motor tracks which seemed in that uncertain
light to be exactly similar.
Truly Mijoux Flobecq was an elusive person.
In that, one of the wildest and most unfrequented parts of Italy, where
even to-day the motorist is lucky if he is not stoned, and where the
peasantry are uncouth and hardly civilised, a night journey was not at
all inviting.
After a brief consultation they both agreed that the most probable
intention of the fugitive--if his suspicions had been aroused, as was
most likely--would be to go north, join the railway on the main line to
Florence, and probably get out of the country immediately, carrying with
him the Princess's letters.
The coup had failed, and Lola knowing him to be a spy, might reveal the
truth. Flobecq was wary enough to foresee such an awkward eventuality.
Hence his headlong flight, which had, no doubt, been cunningly arranged,
as were all his rapid journeys.
Hubert was just about to mount into the car and continue northward along
the straight, well-made road which ran first to Acquapendente and then
to Radicofani--a village of bad repute on the top of a conical hill,
where every car was stoned as it passed, the King's included--when his
quick ears caught a sound.
A motor cyclist was coming rapidly along the road leading westward.
As he approached Pucci hailed him, and he pulled up.
"Have you met a big, open, grey car half an hour or so ago?" the
detective inquired of the young man, who seemed surprised at being thus
stopped.
"Yes. It passed me just as I came out of Pitigliano village. At least
I suppose it must have been the car you mention. The lights were out,
and it was travelling very swiftly."
"Going towards Orbetello--eh?"
"Yes. That is the only place it can reach. The road runs quite
straight down the valley, and there are no branches until you get to the
sea at Albegna."
"He's gone to Orbetello, no doubt," Hubert exclaimed. "He will catch
the express for Turin from there. We must make all haste possible."
Then, thanking the motor cyclist for his information, the car was backed
and turned, and soon they were tearing through the gathering darkness
down a long, winding valley which echoed to the roar of their engine and
the constant hoot of their horn.
Steep and dangerous was the road in many places, with a loose surface
and a number of sharp turns. The drive was a wild one, but if Flobecq
was to be intercepted before he caught the night express for the
frontier they would have to drive madly.
The beetle-browed chauffeur of Orvieto drove as he had never driven
before, though Italians are noteworthy as dare-devil drivers. They
passed through Pitigliano--where the cyclist had met the fugitive--and
on again into the wild, dark mountains to Manciano, a remote place in
the midst of high, barren precipices. Then, after a steep descent, they
at last, after nearly two and a half hours, met a drover who confirmed
the cyclist, and said that a motor without lights had gone past long
ago, after nearly running him down.
The chase was, indeed, exciting.
The Englishman and his companion sat in the car full of eager anxiety.
Once Flobecq gained the train at its stopping-place, Orbetello--that
quaint old town on the Mediterranean shore--then he would escape, as
without a warrant he could not be detained.
So they urged on the chauffeur, who now drove with all the nerve and
daring he possessed. The night became thick and black with those dark,
low clouds which in spring in Italy are so frequent, and herald a
thunderstorm.
The storm came at last, just about eleven. The lightning flashed and
the thunder rolled, echoing and reverberating along the valley where the
road ran beside the rushing torrent on its way to the sea.
Then, after four hours of the most exciting drive that either man had
experienced, they came to the junction of the Albegna River, and then
out upon a broad road across a plain, straight toward the open sea.
After a further eighteen miles or so, a red light showed suddenly--the
light of a level railway crossing. They had at last gained the main
line which runs by the Maremme from Rome to Pisa--the main line to Genoa
and Turin.
Passing the crossing, the gates closed behind them with a clang almost
immediately, and then, the road ran parallel with the railway for many
miles towards ancient Orbetello with its ponderous walls and the sea.
Hubert bent, and striking a match with difficulty, looked at his watch.
It wanted eighteen minutes to midnight.
He and his companion had on the way calculated that if they lost no time
they could reach Orbetello, which was one of the stopping-places of the
night express from Rome for Paris, just before the train was due to
arrive.
Twice after leaving the mountains they had news of the car they were
chasing, once from a shepherd and again from two mounted carabinieri.
If they could reach Orbetello they might prevent Flobecq from leaving.
"We must not yet demand his arrest," the Englishman said to the man at
his side. "If we did then it would result in just the thing we are
endeavouring to avoid--exposure!"
"No, signore. We must catch him up and keep in touch with him until you
decide what action to take in Her Highness's interests."
The chauffeur, urged on by Hubert, drove with reckless speed, with the
railway line always on their left, and now and then passing red and
green, signals, and the small, lonely houses of the watchmen of the
line.
Already in the far distance could be seen the lights of the little town
out at the end of a promontory at the foot of the high, dark Monte
Argentario, rising straight from the sea, a corner of Italy which no one
ever visits, though it is on the direct sea road to Rome.
"At last!" cried Waldron excitedly, pointing out the lights.
"Yes, signore, that is Orbetello!" declared Pucci. "But see," he added
quickly. "See that single light on the left yonder! Is it not moving--
coming towards us?"
Hubert strained his eyes in the direction which the detective pointed.
"By gad! yes. Why--why it's a train. And it is coming towards us!" he
gasped.
At that moment they passed a signal which fell, showing the line to be
clear.
Both men sat silent, watching the rather dim but fast-approaching light.
Yes, assuredly it was a train which had stopped at Orbetello and was now
on its way towards the north!
On it came swiftly, with a red glare showing from the furnace, until
suddenly, with a bursting roar, it thundered past.
Hubert saw the two long sleeping-cars with their blinds closely drawn.
"It's the express!" he cried, dismayed. "The Paris express! The spy
has caught it--and escaped!"
Pucci said nothing. He sat silent, turning to watch the red tail-lamps
as the express bore on its way and out of sight.
And until the car reached the railway station at Orbetello, theft dark
and deserted, with lights turned down, no further word was uttered by
either man.
Of a sleepy porter Hubert, as he dashed out of the car, made quick
inquiry.
"_Si, signore_," replied the man. "An open car drove up a few moments
before the express came in, and a signore got out and bought a ticket
for Turin, and left by the train. The car went away at once, away in
the direction of Montalto and Rome."
Hubert described the man Flobecq, and according to the porter the
description fitted exactly.
After that the two men returned to the car and held consultation.
"The train is due in Turin about eleven to-morrow morning. We cannot
reach there before three in the afternoon."
"If the individual is making for France he will proceed at
eleven-thirty, and be across the frontier before we can reach Turin,"
Pucci remarked thoughtfully.
"Exactly. Our only plan is to have him met at Turin and followed, and a
report sent to us at Turin as soon as he arrives at his destination. He
may go on to Milan, and thence to Trieste and Vienna--who knows? We
must therefore telephone to the Questore in Turin to send down a sharp
detective to pick him up and travel with him. You, Pucci, must use your
authority as brigadier of detective police and make the request to the
Questore."
At once the detective called the porter and sent him for the
stationmaster who, as soon as he ascertained the detective's position,
opened the office and upon the telephone called up the central police
bureau at Turin.
For fully half an hour there was no reply.
At last a voice responded, whereupon the detective at the instrument
explained that he was Brigadier Pucci of the _brigade mobile_ of Rome,
that he was following a dangerous person named Flobecq, _alias_ Pujalet,
who was in the Paris express due at Turin at eleven next morning.
Then he made an urgent request that he should be met, and followed
abroad if he attempted to leave Italy. Again there was a silence for
ten minutes, while the request was placed before the detective
superintendent on duty.
At last came the request for the description of the fugitive, and this
Pucci gave slowly, with professional exactness, so that it could be
taken down.
"He is a very clever and elusive person, and no doubt suspects he may be
followed," Pucci added. "Therefore the greatest caution is necessary
not to let him discover that observation is being kept. I am at
Orbetello, and am coming on to Turin by the next train to report
personally to the Questore."
The voice in return assured the detective that the fugitive would be met
and watched by one of the shrewdest officers available.
"_Benissimo_! I shall arrive about three. Please tell the Questore
that the matter is a strictly confidential one--a private inquiry
instituted by the direction of His Majesty the King."
"Your message shall be sent to the Questore to his home at once," the
voice replied, and their communication was interrupted.
Would they be successful in cutting off the spy's retreat?
Suspecting that he would be followed, he might leave the train at Pisa
and go on to Florence, and thence to Milan. Or again, at Genoa he might
decide to continue along to Ventimiglia and thus across the frontier
into France at that point.
Hubert pointed out these loopholes of escape, whereupon Pucci returned
to the telephone and was presently speaking to the Commissary of Police
at the station of Ventimiglia, giving him a description of the fugitive,
and asking that he might be followed. And afterwards he spoke to the
police officer at Pisa station, warning him in similar manner.
Thus all that they could do from that dark, lonely, obscure little town
they did, yet Hubert's thoughts were chiefly with Lola. He was
wondering if she had yet returned to Rome.
The startling truth which he had learnt while listening to the
conversation in Orvieto that evening had staggered him.
The spy, Flobecq, still held the trump card--those foolish declarations
of affection and admissions of her guilt.
Truly the situation was most serious, for the honour of the Royal House
of Savoy was at stake!