CHAPTER XXI.
On leaving his lordship I descended to the grand entrance to the hotelwith the intention of beating up the Colonel's quarters in Aix.Although the hotels were certain to be crowded at this, the height ofthe season, the town is not really large, the visitors' lists are wellposted with new arrivals, and there are one or two public places wherepeople always turn up at some time or other in the day. The _cercle_or _casino_ and its _succursale_ the Villa des Fleurs, with their manyspacious rooms, reading-room, concert-room, baccarat-room, theirrestaurants, their beautiful gardens, are thronged at all hours of theday with the smart folk of all nationalities.
I stood on the top of the steps waiting for the private omnibus thatplies between the hotel and the town below, when I heard my namecalled from behind, and turning, was confronted by Jules l'Echelle.
"Hullo!" I cried, eying him suspiciously. "What brings you up here?"
"The Colonel, my master--for I have taken service with him, you mustknow--sent me here to inquire whether we could have rooms."
"Why does he choose this hotel of all others?" I asked in adissatisfied tone, although in my secret heart I was overjoyed.
"It's the best, isn't it? Haven't you come here?"
"My Lord Blackadder has, but that's another pair of shoes. There'ssome difference between him and a beggarly half-pay Colonel who willvery likely have to black the boots to work out his bill. They knowhow to charge here."
"The Colonel, I take it, can pay his way as well as most people.Anyhow, he's coming to stop here."
"For any time?"
"Likely enough. He said something about going through the course,taking the baths, and among the rest asked me to find out the bestdoctor."
"That'll mean a lengthened stay; three weeks at least."
"Well, why shouldn't he? He's his own master."
"Then he's finished with that foolish business about the lady; hadenough of it, I suppose; burnt his fingers and done no earthly good."
"How do I know? It's not my business; but I fancy I have fallen into asnug berth, a soft job, better than making beds in a sleeping-car andbeing shaken to death in express trains."
"Good wages, if it's a fair question?"
"Fifty francs a week, _pour tout potage_."
I looked at him hard, revolving in my mind how best to approach him.L'Echelle was a Swiss, and with most of his sort it is only a questionof price. How much would it take to buy him?
"Well, how have you fared? Have you succeeded in getting your rooms?Will your Colonel move up?"
"What would his lordship say? Wouldn't like it much, I expect. Shall Iprevent it? It will be easy to say there are no rooms. I'll do just asyou please."
"You're very obliging."
"I'm willing enough to oblige, as I've always told you--at a price."
"Put a name to it; but don't forget you've had something on account.Last night I gave you five hundred francs."
"Bah! I want a lot more than that, a thousand francs down and fiftyfrancs a day so long as I serve you. Do you agree to my terms?"
"My lord won't. He looks both sides of his money, and pays no fancyprices for a pig in a poke."
"Then I'll take my pigs to another market. Suppose I let the Colonelknow what you've been at, trying to tamper with me. This hotelwouldn't be big enough to hold him and your patron together."
"Well,"--I hesitated, not willing to appear too anxious,--"let's say,just for argument's sake, that you got what you ask, or something nearit. I'm not in a position to promise it, no, not the half of it. Butwe'll agree what you'd do for us in return?"
"Anything you chose to ask."
"Would you come over to us, belong to us body and soul? Think first ofmy lord, put his interests before the Colonel's; tell us what theColonel's doing, his game from day to day, read his letters, and tellus their contents; spy on his actions, watch him at every turn, hiscomings and his goings; the houses he calls at, the people he meets,every move he makes or has in view?"
"If I promise to do all that will you promise not to give me away?You'll keep your own counsel and protect me from the Colonel? If hegot a whisper I was selling him I'd lose my place and he'd half killme into the bargain."
"Not a soul shall know but my lord and myself. I must consult him, oryou won't get the money."
"But there is that other chap, the one who joined us at Culoz, and whowas with you at the Commissariat, a new face to me. One of your ownparty, wasn't he?"
"To be sure, Tiler; he's on the job, too, came out when I did fromLondon. But he's gone, left us half an hour ago."
"For good and all? Sacked, dropped out, or what?"
"Gone to follow up a game of his own. He thinks he knows better thanany one else; believes the lady has harked back, and is following herto Amberieu, Macon, Paris, England perhaps. God knows where. It's awild goose chase, of course; but my lord leans to it, and so it is tobe tried."
"You don't agree?"
"How can I when I'm satisfied he's wrong? She was seen in the expressfor Modane, making for the Mont Cenis tunnel. Of course that's thetrue direction. She was aiming for Italy from the first; the othersister, the divorced lady, is there; we've always known that. Go backto England! Bah! absolute rot. I'd stick to my opinion against fiftyfools like Tiler."
"It's a bargain, then; I can count upon the cash? How soon shall youknow? I'd like to begin at once; there's something I would tell youhere, and now, that would interest you very much. But money down is myrule."
"Let me run up and ask his lordship. I won't keep you five minutes."
My lord gave his consent a little grudgingly, but was presentlypersuaded that it was to his own advantage to have a spy in the heartof the enemy's camp. That was soon seen when l'Echelle had pocketedhis notes and gave us the news in exchange.
"Now that I'm my lord's man I don't mind telling you that the Coloneldoes not mean to stay long in Aix, not one minute longer than till thecall comes."
"He expects a call?"
"Assuredly. He wants you to think he's a fixture here, but he means tocut and run after my lady whenever she sends to him. He'll be off thenfaster than that," he snapped his fingers, "and you won't find it easyto catch him."
"That's good. You'll be well worth your money, I can see. Only bediligent, watch closely, and keep us fully informed. We shall trustvery greatly to you."
"Your trust shall not be misplaced. When I take an employer's pay Iserve him faithfully and to the best of my power," he said with anengaging frankness that won me completely.
Lord! Lord! what liars men are and what fools! I might have guessedhow much reliance was to be placed upon a man who, to my certainknowledge, was serving two masters.
Why should he be more faithful to my lord than to the Colonel?