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"_M. Flocon interposed with uplifted hand_."]
The ROME EXPRESS
By Arthur Griffiths
With a frontispiece in coloursBy Arthur O. Scott
1907
THE ROME EXPRESS
CHAPTER I
The Rome Express, the _direttissimo_, or most direct, was approachingParis one morning in March, when it became known to the occupants of thesleeping-car that there was something amiss, very much amiss, in thecar.
The train was travelling the last stage, between Laroche and Paris, arun of a hundred miles without a stop. It had halted at Laroche forearly breakfast, and many, if not all the passengers, had turned out. Ofthose in the sleeping-car, seven in number, six had been seen in therestaurant, or about the platform; the seventh, a lady, had not stirred.All had reentered their berths to sleep or doze when the train went on,but several were on the move as it neared Paris, taking their turn atthe lavatory, calling for water, towels, making the usual stir ofpreparation as the end of a journey was at hand.
There were many calls for the porter, yet no porter appeared. At lastthe attendant was found--lazy villain!--asleep, snoring loudly,stertorously, in his little bunk at the end of the car. He was rousedwith difficulty, and set about his work in a dull, unwilling, lethargicway, which promised badly for his tips from those he was supposed toserve.
By degrees all the passengers got dressed, all but two,--the lady in 9and 10, who had made no sign as yet; and the man who occupied alone adouble berth next her, numbered 7 and 8.
As it was the porter's duty to call every one, and as he was anxious,like the rest of his class, to get rid of his travellers as soon aspossible after arrival, he rapped at each of the two closed doors behindwhich people presumably still slept.
The lady cried "All right," but there was no answer from No. 7 and 8.
Again and again the porter knocked and called loudly. Still meetingwith no response, he opened the door of the compartment and went in.
It was now broad daylight. No blind was down; indeed, the one narrowwindow was open, wide; and the whole of the interior of the compartmentwas plainly visible, all and everything in it.
The occupant lay on his bed motionless. Sound asleep? No, not merelyasleep--the twisted unnatural lie of the limbs, the contorted legs, theone arm drooping listlessly but stiffly over the side of the berth, toldof a deeper, more eternal sleep.
The man was dead. Dead--and not from natural causes.
One glance at the blood-stained bedclothes, one look at the gaping woundin the breast, at the battered, mangled face, told the terrible story.
It was murder! murder most foul! The victim had been stabbed to theheart.
With a wild, affrighted, cry the porter rushed out of the compartment,and to the eager questioning of all who crowded round him, he could onlymutter in confused and trembling accents:
"There! there! in there!"
Thus the fact of the murder became known to every one by personalinspection, for every one (even the lady had appeared for just a moment)had looked in where the body lay. The compartment was filled for someten minutes or more by an excited, gesticulating, polyglot mob of half adozen, all talking at once in French, English, and Italian.
The first attempt to restore order was made by a tall man, middle-aged,but erect in his bearing, with bright eyes and alert manner, who tookthe porter aside, and said sharply in good French, but with a strongEnglish accent:
"Here! it's your business to do something. No one has any right to be inthat compartment now. There may be reasons--traces--things to remove;never mind what. But get them all out. Be sharp about it; and lock thedoor. Remember you will be held responsible to justice."
The porter shuddered, so did many of the passengers who had overheardthe Englishman's last words.
Justice! It is not to be trifled with anywhere, least of all in France,where the uncomfortable superstition prevails that every one who can bereasonably suspected of a crime is held to be guilty of that crime untilhis innocence is clearly proved.
All those six passengers and the porter were now brought within thecategory of the accused. They were all open to suspicion; they, and theyalone, for the murdered man had been seen alive at Laroche, and the felldeed must have been done since then, while the train was in transit,that is to say, going at express speed, when no one could leave itexcept at peril of his life.
"Deuced awkward for us!" said the tall English general, Sir CharlesCollingham by name, to his brother the parson, when he had reenteredtheir compartment and shut the door.
"I can't see it. In what way?" asked the Reverend Silas Collingham, atypical English cleric, with a rubicund face and square-cut whitewhiskers, dressed in a suit of black serge, and wearing the professionalwhite tie.
"Why, we shall be detained, of course; arrested, probably--certainlydetained. Examined, cross-examined, bully-ragged--I know something ofthe French police and their ways."
"If they stop us, I shall write to the _Times_" cried his brother, byprofession a man of peace, but with a choleric eye that told of an angrytemperament.
"By all means, my dear Silas, when you get the chance. That won't bejust yet, for I tell you we're in a tight place, and may expect a gooddeal of worry." With that he took out his cigarette-case, and hismatch-box, lighted his cigarette, and calmly watched the smoke risingwith all the coolness of an old campaigner accustomed to encounter andface the ups and downs of life. "I only hope to goodness they'll runstraight on to Paris," he added in a fervent tone, not unmixed withapprehension. "No! By jingo, we're slackening speed--."
"Why shouldn't we? It's right the conductor, or chief of the train, orwhatever you call him, should know what has happened."
"Why, man, can't you see? While the train is travelling express, everyone must stay on board it; if it slows, it is possible to leave it."
"Who would want to leave it?"
"Oh, I don't know," said the General, rather testily. "Any way, thething's done now."
The train had pulled up in obedience to the signal of alarm given bysome one in the sleeping-car, but by whom it was impossible to say. Notby the porter, for he seemed greatly surprised as the conductor came upto him.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"Know! Know what? You stopped me."
"I didn't."
"Who rang the bell, then?"
"I did not. But I'm glad you've come. There has been a crime--murder."
"Good Heavens!" cried the conductor, jumping up on to the car, andentering into the situation at once. His business was only to verify thefact, and take all necessary precautions. He was a burly, brusque,peremptory person, the despotic, self-important French official, whoknew what to do--as he thought--and did it without hesitation orapology.
"No one must leave the car," he said in a tone not to be misunderstood."Neither now, nor on arrival at the station."
There was a shout of protest and dismay, which he quickly cut short.
"You will have to arrange it with the authorities in Paris; they canalone decide. My duty is plain: to detain you, place you undersurveillance till then. Afterwards, we will see. Enough, gentlemen andmadame"--
He bowed with the instinctive gallantry of his nation to the femalefigure which now appeared at the door of her compartment. She stood fora moment listening, seemingly greatly agitated, and then, without aword, disappeared, retreating hastily into her own private room, whereshe shut herself in.
Almost immediately, at a signal from the conductor, the train resumedits journey. The distance remaining to be traversed was short; half anhour more, and the Lyons station, at Paris, was reached, where the bulkof the passengers--all, indeed, but the occupants
of thesleeper--descended and passed through the barriers. The latter wereagain desired to keep their places, while a posse of officials came andmounted guard. Presently they were told to leave the car one by one, butto take nothing with them. All their hand-bags, rugs, and belongingswere to remain in the berths, just as they lay. One by one they weremarched under escort to a large and bare waiting-room, which had, nodoubt, been prepared for their reception.
Here they took their seats on chairs placed at wide intervals apart, andwere peremptorily forbidden to hold any communication with each other,by word or gesture. This order was enforced by a fierce-looking guard inblue and red uniform, who stood facing them with his arms folded,gnawing his moustache and frowning severely.
Last of all, the porter was brought in and treated like the passengers,but more distinctly as a prisoner. He had a guard all to himself; and itseemed as though he was the object of