CHAPTER XVII.
"There should be two Richmonds in the field! That was my grand idea.Two sets, two parties, each of them consisting of one lady, one maid,and one baby, exactly similar and indistinguishable. When the time wasripe we should separate, and each would travel in opposite directions,and I hoped to show sufficient guile to induce my persecutors to givechase to the wrong quarry. Run it to the death, while the party gotclear away.
"I had made a nice calculation. Fuentellato was at no great distancefrom Parma, on the main line of railway. If she started at once, viaPiacenza to Turin, she could catch the Mont Cenis express through toModane and Culoz, where she could change for Geneva, so as to reach mesome time on Tuesday.
"This was exactly what happened. My sister carried out my instructionsto the letter, and I met her here on arrival. I had taken up myquarters in this hotel because it was so near the station, but Ithought it prudent that Henriette should lodge somewhere else, thefarther the better, and she went to a small place, the Hotel PierreFatio, at the other end of the town.
"It is a long story, Colonel Annesley, but there is not much more, andyet the most interesting part is to come.
"We now devoted ourselves to the practical carrying out of the scheme,just we four women; our maids, both clever dressmakers, were ofimmense help. It was soon done. You can buy anything in Geneva. Thereare plenty of good shops and skilful workers, and we soon providedourselves with the clothes, all the disguises really that werequired--the long gray dust cloaks and soft hats and all the rest, somuch alike that we might have been soldiers in the same regiment.Philpotts and Victorine, my sister's maid, were also made up on asimilar pattern, and a second baby was built up as a dummy that wouldhave deceived any one.
"Everything was completed by this morning, and I had settled that mysister, with her dear little Ralph, should get away, but by quite anew route, while I held my ground against the detectives. I felt surethey would soon hear of me and run me down. I hoped they would attachthemselves to me, and meant to lead them a fine dance as a blind forHenriette, who, meanwhile, would have crossed to Lyons and gone southto Marseilles. The Riviera is a longer and more roundabout road toTurin, but it was open, and I hoped unimpeded. What do you think of mydiplomacy?"
"Admirable!" I cried, with enthusiasm. "Your cleverness, Lady Claire,is colossal. Go on, I beg of you. Surely you have succeeded?"
"Alas! no. Everything was cut and dried and this evening we scored thefirst point in the game. Henriette went on this evening to Amberieu,the junction for Lyons. She went straight from her hotel, alone, forof course I was obliged to keep close, or the trick would have beendiscovered, and it was in part.
"For I must tell you that to-day one of the detectives appeared inGeneva, not the first man, but a second, who attached himself to me atBasle. I met him plump on the Mont Blanc Bridge and turned tail, buthe came after me. I jumped into a passing tram, so did he, and tothrow him off his guard I talked to him, and made friends with him,and advised him to come and stay at this hotel. Then I got out andleft him, making my way to the Pierre Fatio Hotel by a circuitousroute, dodging in and out among the narrow streets till I nearly lostmyself.
"I thought I had eluded him, and he certainly was nowhere near when Iwent into the hotel. But I suppose he followed me, he must have, andfound out something, for I know now that he went to Amberieu afterHenriette--"
"You are perfectly sure?"
"She has telegraphed to me from Amberieu; I got it not an hour ago.The man accosted her, taking her for me. He would have it she was Mrs.Blair, and told her to her face that he did not mean to lose sight ofher again. So you see--"
"If she goes round by Lyons to Marseilles, then, he would be at herheels, and the scheme breaks down in that respect?"
"Not only that, I don't see that he could interfere with her, or doher much harm, and at Marseilles she might change her plans entirely.There are ever so many ways of escape from a seaport. She might takeship and embark on board the first steamer bound to the East, forIndia or Ceylon, the Antipodes or far Cathay."
"Well, why not?"
"Henriette, my sister, has given way. Her courage has failed her atthis, the most critical moment, when she is within a hair's breadth ofsuccess. She is afraid to go on alone with little Ralph, and isrunning back to me by the first train to-morrow morning, at five orsix o'clock."
"Coming here? Into the very mouths of all the others!"
"Just so, and all my great scheme will be ruined. They cannot but findout, and there is no knowing what they may do. Lord Blackadder, Iknow, is capable of anything. I assure you, Colonel Annesley, I am indespair. What _can_ I do?"
She looked at me in piteous appeal, the tears brimming over, her handsstretched towards me with a gesture at once pathetic and enchanting.
"Say, rather, what can _we_ do, Lady Claire," I corrected her. "Thisis my business, too, if you will allow me to say so, and I offer youmy advice for what it is worth."
"Yes, I will take it thankfully, I promise you."
"The only safe course now is the boldest. You must make anotherexchange with your sister, Lady Blackadder--"
"Call her Lady Henriette Standish. She has dropped the otherentirely."
"By all means. Lady Henriette then has determined to take the firsttrain from Amberieu at--Have you a Bradshaw? Thank you--at 5.52A.M., which will get her to Culoz at 6.48. You must, ifpossible, exchange babies, and at the same time exchange _roles_. Ifeel sure that you, at any rate, are not afraid of going to Marseilleswith the real baby."
"Hardly!" she laughed scornfully. "But Henriette--what is to become ofher?"
"That shall be my affair. It is secondary, really. The first andall-important is for you to secure the little Ralph and escape withhim. It will have to be done under the very eyes of the enemy, forthere is every reason to fear they will be going on, too. The otherdetective, this Tiler--I have heard them call him by that name--willhave told them of her ladyship's movements, and will have summonedthem, Falfani at least, to his side."
"If I go on by that early train they will, no doubt, do the same. Imust not be seen by them. They would fathom the trick of the twoparties and the exchange."
"Yet you must go on by that train. It's the only way."
"Of course I might change my appearance a little, but not enough todeceive them. Cannot I go across to the station before them and hidein some compartment specially reserved for us?"
"It might be managed. We might secure the whole of the seats."
"Money is no object."
"It will do most things, especially in Switzerland. Leave it to me,Lady Claire. All you have to do is to be ready to-morrow morning, veryearly, remember. Before 5 A.M."
"If necessary I'll sit up all night."
"Well, then, that's settled. I'll knock at your door and see you getsome coffee."
"Philpotts shall make it; no one in the hotel must know. There will bethe bill."
"I will see to that. I'll come back after you're ensconced, with theblinds drawn. Sick lady on the way, via Culoz to Aix-les-Bains, mustnot be disturbed. It won't matter my being seen on the road, all thebetter really if my lord is there, for I have a little plan of my own,Lady Claire--no, please don't ask me yet--but it will help matters, Ithink."
"You are, indeed, my true and faithful friend," she said, as she putout her hand and wished me good night. She left it in mine for just asecond, and I flattered myself that its warm pressure was meant toassure me that I had established a substantial claim to her regard.