CHAPTER XXV.
I returned to my hotel vexed and irritated beyond measure by mypassage at arms with Lady Henriette Standish, and hating the prospectof any further dealings with her. I very cordially echoed her repeatedcry for Lady Claire. Matters would have been very different had herstrong-minded sister been on the spot to use her influence and help uswith her counsel. What a contrast between the two women! I was moreand more drawn to the one, and more and more heartily despised theother.
With my mind full of the beautiful creature who had made me a willingcaptive to her charms, her gracious presence was recalled to me by amessage from under her own hand. As I passed the threshold of myhotel, the hall porter gave me a telegram from Lady Claire. It hadcome via London, but the office of origin was Marseilles.
"Reached so far, yesterday," it said. "One of them turned up this morning--have no fear--exchange not effected--shall remain here for the present--Hotel Terminus.
"CLAIRE."
I read and re-read this passage with a delightful feeling that itbrought me into touch with my love, and I may be permitted for seeingin it clear proof of her bright wit and intelligence. She told me justexactly all that it was essential to know: of the pursuit, of theabsence of pressing danger, of the abortive attempt to exchangebabies, and where she was to be found. Suppose that I had not met LadyHenriette, I was fully prepared for anything that might occur.
It was now barely 10 A.M., and the time intervening beforethe departure of the eastward bound express (three and a half hours)was none too much to carry out my intentions as to Lady Henriette.
I first of all ordered a covered landau to be harnessed as speedily aspossible, and to be sent to await me in a side street near the HotelModena; then I summoned l'Echelle and bade him make all ready for thejourney. I also told him that I should be busily engaged thatforenoon; but that as I might be obliged to run it very close for thetrain, he was to make all preparations, to take the tickets, and awaitme on the platform. I had debated anxiously with myself how far Ishould betray the presence of Lady Henriette in Aix to l'Echelle, anddecided that, although I had no particular reason to doubt him, I feltthat it would be more prudent to keep the fact to myself. For the samereason I kept him busily engaged in my bedroom packing, lest he shouldspy upon my movements. There was still the fear that Falfani might beon the watch, but I had been assured by l'Echelle that the Blackadderparty were so satisfied by the news he gave them that they left thebusiness of shadowing almost entirely to him.
I was pretty sure that I reached the Hotel Modena unobserved. I cameupon the carriage by the way, and as I passed briefly desired thedriver to follow me to the Hotel Modena. Arriving there, I sent up myname, and followed it, a little unceremoniously, to Lady Henriette'ssitting-room.
She was there, dressed in hat and jacket, and so far disposed tocomply with my wishes. Her maid, Victorine, was with her, the baby onher knee. Her baggage, happily light enough, was there, packed and allready for a start.
But if I thought that Lady Henriette meant to yield without anotherskirmish I was sadly mistaken. I was in for much more than a skirmish;it was to be a battle royal.
"The carriage is at the door," I said as pleasantly as possible. "Wehave nearly an hour's drive before us, and I am delighted to thinkthat you are ready and willing to go with me."
"I am ready, as you see, but not willing," she answered, bridling upwith a scornful air. "Very much the reverse indeed. The more I thinkover it the more outrageous and preposterous your behaviour seems.Where are we going? I insist upon knowing. I must have a plaincategorical answer or I will not move an inch." Her dogged, determinedair was belied by her dress and the obvious preparations already madefor departure. Her present attitude I set down to the vacillation ofher character. She might make up her mind one moment and one way, andyet be quite prepared to change it the next.
"You are fully entitled to know where you are going, and I have notthe smallest desire to keep it from you," I replied, still speaking ina smooth, courteous voice. "I propose that you should take up yourresidence for a time--the very shortest time possible--at Le Bourget,a small place at the head of the lake. You may know it; there is asnug little hotel in the village, the Dent du Chat. You will like it."
"I shall not like it. I dislike the whole idea exceedingly. Why shouldI be buried alive in such an out-of-the-way spot?"
"It will be no worse than Fuentellato, a place you chose foryourself."
"I have a house of my own there--my own servants. It is perfectlysafe."
"Not now, believe me, they will come upon you there; trace you easilyand quickly, and they are capable of any violence to capture anddeprive you of your treasure." I pointed to the child on the maid'sknee.
"I shall be more at their mercy here in Aix."
"Be guided by me. I am certain of what I say. All will be well if youwill only keep out of the way now for a few hours, perhaps at most acouple of days. If they do not find you at once they will never findyou. Only let me have a short start ahead and I'll lead them a prettydance, and take them further and further away. You may rely on it, andI assure you they will never be able to find you or do you any harm."
"I wish I could believe you," she said. "If I could only believe inyou and trust you as Claire does," she murmured pathetically, stilltortured by doubt. "Why has Claire deserted me? If she were only here,or I knew where to find her!"
I was on the point of imparting my last news, but I checked myself.Lady Henriette had seen her last, and must be well aware of thedirection she was taking to Lyons and Marseilles. It would onlyunsettle her to know that her sister was at Marseilles to-day, andwould be at Genoa to-morrow. She would be mad to join her, and it wasmy most earnest wish that, for the present at least, Lady Henrietteshould keep quiet in the background with her charge.
"You will soon be able to communicate with her, no doubt. Of courseyou arranged that at Culoz?"
"We arranged nothing. It was all so hurried, and we had much to talkabout. She was so hard on me when I declared I could not part with myblessed boy. We had words--"
"Ah!" I had heard enough to know that there had been a strongdifference of opinion, a sharp quarrel probably, and that Lady Clairehad not spared her sister at this fresh exhibition of ridiculousweakness.
"May I ask, please, whether you were to believe in me or not?" Iresumed, taking up the discussion where I had left it. "We must bemoving if we are to go at all."
Her acquiescence, now tardily given, was surly and ungracious.
"I suppose I cannot help myself; I am quite at your mercy. You may besure I shall not easily forget this, or forgive your overbearingtreatment. I will go, but under protest."
She led the way herself and entered the carriage first, motioning toVictorine to hand her the baby and take her seat inside. She made nosuch sign to me, although I followed close behind. But I also got inwithout invitation, only explaining that it might not be wise to showmyself on the box.
The coachman had his orders, and he drove off briskly along theMarlioz road till he reached the turning towards the head of thelake. In less than an hour we pulled up before the Hotel Dent duChat, a simple, unpretending hostelry, to which I had telegraphed inadvance, stating my needs. We were received with profuse civility, thebest of everything placed at our disposal, a best at which LadyHenriette, as I might have expected, turned up her nose, sniffing andscornful.
She uttered no complaint, she would not address a word to me; her airwas one of lofty, contemptuous reserve; she intimated plainly that wewere "dead cuts."
Only at the last, just as I was driving away and lifted my hat infarewell, she yielded to an impulse of despair, and seized my arm inalmost frenzied appeal.
"You must not, you cannot desert me; I will not be left like this. Noman, no gentleman would do it. I beg and implore you to remain withinreach, somewhere near at any rate. I can never face this place alone."
Her last appeal touched me to the quick. Once more I sought to explainthe d
ire necessity for this act that seemed so barbarous, but she wasdeaf to all my arguments, and still clung to me nervously as I climbedinto the carriage.
When at length I got away, and I persisted in leaving, being so fullysatisfied it was for the best, her piteous, reproachful accents stillrung in my ears, and I shall count that return drive to Aix as themost miserable hour I have passed in my life.
The whole episode had occupied much time, and it was already past onewhen I reentered the town. I drove straight to the railway station,and was met outside it by the faithful l'Echelle.
"Monsieur, monsieur, will you believe it? They have gone half an hourago, and not by the eastern but the western express."
"You saw them?"
"I spoke to them. Falfani himself told me of the change in theirplans. The latest news from their man in the south was so positive,and has so convinced my lord, that he is hastening full speed to joinTiler, and they are only too delighted to leave you behind."
I laughed aloud with intense satisfaction.
"You do not mind, monsieur? You have no reason to fear them?"
"Not the least in the world, they are playing into my hands. I, too,have changed my plans. I shall now remain in Aix for some timelonger. I shall be glad to go on with the baths."
But I was thinking really of that poor creature I had abandoned at LeBourget, and overjoyed to think that I might now meet her wishes, andperchance regain something of her good-will.
Once more I took the road to Le Bourget, driving over by the first_fiacre_ I could pick up on the stand, a much slower journey than thefirst, and it was nearly 3 P.M. when I reached the littlehotel.
It was indeed a day of surprises, of strange emotions and movingincidents.
When I alighted and asked for "Mrs. Blair," I was answered abruptlythat she was gone.
"Gone? When? How?" I cried, in utter amazement.
"Madame went very soon after monsieur," said the _patronne_, in highdudgeon. "She was not complimentary, she said this place was too_triste_, that it got on her nerves. She called me up and said I wasto bring her the _Indicateur_. Then she must have a carriage as soonas it could be prepared to drive her to Culoz, fifteen miles away,meaning to take the train from there."
"Not to Aix?"
"Assuredly not, for when I suggested that she could more easily findthe train there she told me to hold my tongue, that she knew very wellwhat she was about, and wanted no observations from me."
To Culoz? She was bound then to follow her sister, I felt sure of it;and I was aghast, foreshadowing the new dangers opening before her.