CHAPTER XVI.
I was received with great warmth and cordiality by my friend, and itwas made clear to me that my opportune appearance brought her greatcomfort and support.
"I never hoped for such good fortune as this," she began heartily. "Ihad no idea you were within miles, and was repining bitterly that Ihad let you get so far out of the way. Now you appear in the very nickof time, just when I was almost in despair. But wait. Can I stillcount 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 wenton. "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 thetitle."
"May I be forgiven if I trench on such a delicate subject, and assureyou of my most sincere sympathy? Everybody felt for you deeply. Ihope you will believe that I am, and ever shall be, at your orders anddevoted to your service."
"Yes, yes, I am sure of it; I know I can depend upon you fully, and Imean to do so now at once. You know, you have heard, that LordBlackadder 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, almosta fight."
"Pfu! He would not fight! I only wish you had thrashed him as hedeserves. 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 theCourt might direct. You are its mother."
Again she blushed and smiled, rather comically. "I certainly shall notsurrender it to Lord Blackadder, not without a struggle. Yet he isvery near getting it now."
"In there?" I nodded towards the next room. "It is a close thing. Howare you to manage it?"
"There would not have been the slightest difficulty; it was all butdone, and then some one, something, failed me. I expected too muchperhaps, but I have been bitterly disappointed, and the danger hasrevived."
"Come, come, Lady Blackadder, keep up your courage. Let us takecounsel together. We can surely devise some fresh plan. Don't give waynow; you have been so plucky all through. Be brave still."
"Thank you, Colonel Annesley, I will." She put out her hand withenchanting frankness, her fine eyes shining gratefully. A man wouldhave dared much, endured much, to win such gracious approval.
"It is getting late, but you must hear all I have to tell before wecan decide upon the next step. Will you listen to me? I shall not boreyou. It is a long story. First let me clear the ground a little. Imust disabuse your mind on one point. I am not Lady Blackadder--no,no, do not misunderstand me--not on account of the divorce, but Inever 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 thatdetestable trial, those awful days in the Divorce Court, when thelawyers fought and wrangled over my darling sister, like dogs over abone, tearing and snarling at each other, while the judge sat abovelike a solemn old owl, never moving or making a sign.
"Henriette positively refused to appear in the case, although she waspressed and entreated by her legal advisers. She could have thrown somuch light on the worst and darkest part. She could have repudiatedthe cowardly charges made, and cast back the lies drawn round her toruin her. If the jury had but seen her pretty, pathetic face, andheard from her own sweet lips all she had endured, they would havecome to a very different verdict.
"But she would not come forward on her own behalf. She would notdefend the action; she did not want to win it, but waited till it wasall 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 ithad never been raised, or she would have nerved herself to fightsooner than give up what she valued more than her very life.
"It fell upon me with crushing effect, although towards the end of thetrial I had had my forebodings. Lord Blackadder was to have thecustody of his heir, and my dear sweet Henriette was to be robbed forever of her chiefest joy and treasure. The infant child was to beabandoned to strangers, paid by its unnatural and unfeeling father.
"I had braced myself to listen to all that came out in court, a wholetissue of lies told by perjured wretches whose evidence was acceptedas gospel--one of them was the same Falfani whom you know, and who hadacted the loathsome part of spy on several occasions.
"Directly the judge had issued his cruel fiat, I slipped out, hurrieddown-stairs into the Strand, jumped into a hansom, and was driven attop speed to Hamilton Terrace, bent upon giving instant effect to ascheme I had long since devised.
"I found my faithful Philpotts awaiting me with everything prepared asI had arranged. The dear baby was dressed quickly--he was as good asgold--the baggage, enough for my hurried journey to Fuentellato, hadbeen packed for days past, and we took the road.
"I knew that pursuit would not tarry, but I was satisfied that I hadmade a good start, and I hoped to make my way through to Italy withoutinterference. When I first saw you at Calais I was seized with aterrible fear, which was soon allayed; you did not look much like adetective, 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 fromBasle to Lausanne, and the clever way in which she eluded the seconddetective--matters on which the reader has been already informed._]
"On reaching Geneva I at once opened communications with Henriette. Ifelt satisfied, now that I had come so far, it would be well that sheshould join me, and that we should concert together as to our nextproceedings. Our first and principal aim was to retain the child atall costs and against all comers. I had no precise knowledge as towhere we should be beyond the jurisdiction of the English law, but Icould not believe that the Divorce Court and its emissaries couldinterfere with us in a remote Italian village. My real fear was ofLord Blackadder. He was so bold and unscrupulous that, if the lawwould not help him, he would try stratagem, or even force. We shouldbe really safe nowhere if we once came within his reach, and, the bestplan 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 theexact spot in which Henriette had taken refuge, he must have guessedsomething from the direction of my journey, and that I was on my wayto join her. If he failed to intercept me _en route_, he would makehis way straight there. I had resolved he should not find us, butwhere else should we go? Farther afield, if necessary to the very endof the world. Lord Blackadder, we might be sure, would hunt high andlow to recover his lost heir, sparing no expense, neglecting no means.
"It was, however, essential to elude his agents, who were so near athand and likely to press me close. That was another reason for drawingmy sister to me. I had hit upon a cunning device, as I thought it, toconfuse 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."