Part 17 (2/2)
Now, Divonne is, as I knew, quite close to the Swiss frontier It is a ht kilometres--an hour's drive at the very least in this supremely uncomfortable vehicle I tried to induce further conversation, but ainst my companion's taciturnity However, I had little cause for complaint in another direction After the first quarter of an hour, and e had left the cobblestones of the city behind us, he drew a bundle of notes froht of the lanthorn he counted out ten fifty-franc notes and handed them without another word to me
The drive was unspeakably weariso of the wheels and the incessant patter of the rain against the -panes lulled me into a kind of torpor Certain it is that presently--much sooner than I had anticipated--the chaise dreith a jerk, and I was roused to full consciousness by hearing M Berty's voice saying curtly:
”Here we are! Co--not so much with cold as with excitement You will readily understand that allthe wearisoued companion my mind had fastened on the certitude that ht bore a close connexion to the firlish files which were causing so hts to M le Duc d'Otrante, Minister of Police
But nothing in e under the porch of the house which looloo of what I felt Outwardly I was just a worthy bourgeois, an interpreter by profession, and delighted at the remunerative work so opportunely put in my way
The house itself appeared lonely as well as dark M Berty led the way across a narrow passage, at the end of which there was a door which he pushed open, saying in his usual abrupt manner: ”Go in there and wait
I'll send for you directly”
Then he closed the door onthe corridor and presently ascending some stairs I was left alone in a shted by an oil la There was a table in the middle of the room, a square of carpet on the floor, and a couple of chairs beside a sle as closely shuttered and barred I sat down and waited At first the silence around ainst the shutters and the soughing of the wind down the iron chimney pipe, but after a little while my senses, which by this time had become super-acute, were conscious of various noises within the house itself: footsteps overhead, a confused murmur of voices, and anon the unmistakable sound of a female voice raised as if in entreaty or in co of alaran to realise er in a house as to whose situation I had not the re a set ofless than a gang of detererous criminals The voices, especially the fe ently opened it There was indeed nowhich cah & woht the words: ”Oh, don't! Oh, don't! Not again!” repeated at intervals with pitiable insistence
Mastering my not unnatural anxiety, I opened the door a little farther and slipped out into the passage, all my instincts of chivalry towards beauty in distress aroused by those piteous cries Forgetful of every possible danger and of all prudence, I had already darted down the corridor, deterentleman as soon as I had ascertained whence had couish, when I heard the frou-frou of skirts and a rapid patter of small feet down the stairs
The next moment a radiant vision, all white muslin, fair curls and the scent of violets, descended on me fro, back into the rooazed on the winsoirl, slender as a lily, dressed in a soft, clinging gohich ed in a tangle of unruly curls round the dainty oval of her face
She was exquisite, Sir! And the slenderness of her! You cannot iale But what cut me to the heart was the look of terror and of ether and the tears gathered in her eyes
”Go, Sir, go at once!” shevery rapidly ”Do not waste a o before it is too late!”
”But, Mademoiselle,” I stammered; for indeed her words and appearance had roused all my worst fears, but also allhis quarry
”Don't argue, I beg of you,” continued the lovely creature, who indeed see emotions--fear, horror, pity ”When he comes back do not let him find you here I'll explain, I'll knohat to say, only I entreat you--go!”
Sir, I have many faults, but cowardice does not happen to be one of theel pleaded the h I was, of course, quite convinced by now that I was on the track of M Aristide Fournier and the English files, and I was not going to let five thousand francs and the gratitude of the Minister of Police slip through ers so easily
”Mademoiselle,” I rejoined as calh your anxiety forman, I have no fears for my own safety I have come here in the capacity of a hu out of the way
Moreover, I have been paid for my services, and these I will render to my employer to the best of my capabilities”
”Ah, but you don't know,” she retorted, not departing one jot from her attitude of terror and of entreaty, ”you don't understand This house, Monsieur,” she added in a hoarse whisper, ”is nothing but a den of criminals wherein no honest man or wohtly and as gallantly as I could, ”I see before els, at any rate, dwell therein”
”Alas! Sir,” she rejoined, with a heart-rending sigh, ”if you ht but slaves to the will of my brother, who uses us as tools for his nefarious ends”
”But” I stammered, horrified beyond speech at the vista of villainy which her words had opened up before me
”My ; she is dying of anguish at sight of her son's ive my life to see her free from that miscreant's clutches!”
My whole soul was stirred to its depths by the intensity of passion which rang through this delicate creature's words What weird and awesome mystery of iniquity and of criedy had I thus accidentally beco my prosaic duty in the interest of His Majesty's exchequer? As in a flash it suddenly came to me that perhaps I could serve both this lovely creature and the E hidden all the night through soht I could locate its exact situation Then I could communicate with Leroux at once and procure the apprehension of this Berty--or Fournier--who apparently was a desperate cri shape in my brain, and with my mind's eye I had measured the distance which separated me from the front door and safety when, in the distance, I heard heavy footsteps slowly descending the stairs I looked atwith increased horror She gave a smothered cry, pressed her handkerchief to her lips, then she murmured hoarsely, ”Too late!” and fled precipitately froled emotions such as I had never experienced before
3
A moment or two later M Ernest Berty, or whatever his real name may have been, entered the room Whether he had encountered his exquisite sister on the corridor or the stairs, I could not tell; his face, in the di lamp, looked impenetrable and sinister